Fervant
by BigHair
Summary: Fate has been unkind to Sakura since she was twelve...Everyone said that the wounds in her heart were so deep that nothing could heal them. Not even love. Or can it? full summary inside. rated M for violence, rape, and later lemon. plz r&r!
1. the last hug goodbye

hi guys! i'm back with a whole new story!! WHOO-HOO!!! but this'ns not gonna be like my others ones. this one...is actually...gonna be...can't believe i'm gonna write one...A LEMON!!! but not right away. later on in the story. some of you are probably like, "what's she talking about? she already wrote a lemon!" that's not true! in my other story which a lot of you read, "7 minutes in heaven" it's not a lemon. but it was pretty close to it! and it was also kinda crappy, but that's because it was my first romance story! i guarantee that this one's gonna be a lot betta cuz of, as jiraya would say, "my research" ;) not that kind of research! i just read a lot of lemons! lol! XP rated M for violence, rape and sexual intercourse. duh.

_summary: Fate has been unkind to Sakura since she was twelve years old. First the boy she loved left the village as a traitor. Then her mother is horrifically murdered, leaving Sakura and her little sister alone. Three years later Sasuke returns only to be more cold-hearted than ever. In the same year, Sakura is brutally raped and nearly killed in the middle of the forest floor. Now three months pass and she's discovered something that had changed her life and scarred her heart forever. Everyone says that the wounds in her heart are so deep that nothing would ever heal them. Not even love. Or can it? _

disclaimer: you scream, i scream, we all scream, I DON'T OWN NARUTO:P lol!

**chapter 1: the last hug goodbye...**

It was a bright summer morning in the village of Konoha as Sakura Haruno waited impatiently for her sister to come downstairs.

"Chihiro!" she called. "Cmon! We're gonna be late!"

A small seven year old girl ran down the stairs with a backpack strapped over her shoulders. She had blonde hair tied in two pigtails, emerald eyes and wore an red tank top with a dinem skirt.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Chihiro yelled. "Geez, don't get your panties in a wad."

Sakura was supposed to drop off her younger sister, Chihiro, at the Academy but the seven year old blonde had been delaying the process of doing so by unwisely using her time on hair, makeup and clothes. This thoroughly disappointed Sakura. Hadn't she taught her sister better? After all, she went through the same thing. She probably still would've carried on about her looks if not for the Sound nin incident in the Forest of Death during the Chuunin Exams. Though she didn't like to admit it, Kin's words had really taught Sakura that.

_"If you'd stop shampooing and practiced your jutsu, you'd might be able to be of some use." _

Sakura shook her head at her sister's foolishness.

"You really need to stop worrying about how you look, Chihiro." said Sakura in a firm voice. "If you waste your time on things like that and not enough time on your jutsu, how are you ever gonna make it out there as a ninja?"

Chihiro gave her a funny look as if she didn't know who this strange pink-haired girl was or why she was talking to her.

"Cmon, Onee-chan!" Chihiro whined. "How am I supposed to get Takuto's attention if I look like a dork? I mean, let's face it: I'm scrawny and small. The only thing big is my forehead. Oh, why did I have to be born looking like you?"

The temperature around Sakura started to rise dramatically when she heard her sister's comment. The one thing absolutely could not stand was someone, no matter who it was, making fun of her forehead. That and the fact that her sister was doing all this primping for a _boy._ She suddenly grabbed her younger sister by the shirt and lifted her off the ground up to her eye level, her furious jade eyes glaring right into Chihiro's startled ones.

"All right, you listen and you listen good!" Sakura growled. "First of all, if you ever wanna get to be as old as mom then I suggest you shut up about my forehead! And it's stupid to waste all your time primping for some guy who doesn't even know you exist!! If you don't start practicing and rather chase after some jerk, then you are seriously going to regret it! Because if somehow you manage to make genin, you won't last five minutes!! Got it?!"

Chihiro nodded her head violently and frightfully.

"Sakura!" came an angry voice from the top of the staires. Sakura and Chihiro looked up to find a tall, brown haired woman with angry emerald eyes. It was their mother, Miyuki, glaring down at Sakura in aggrivation.

"What are you doing? Put her down!" she demanded. "You need to take her to school before she's late again."

The rosette haired girl did as she was told and dropped Chihiro on the ground, which resulted in her receiving a death glare from her mother.

"Hey, you never said I had to be gentle." Sakura smirked.

"Ow..." Chihiro groaned as she caressed her sore rear.

"Sorry." Sakura mumbled as her mother's glare grew more dangerous.

She helped Chihiro on her feet and out the door. They were about to step off the porch when Miyuki stopped them.

"Be nice." she whispered to Sakura.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Love ya, mom." Chihhiro replied sweetly as she gave her a hug goodbye.

Miyuki patted her on the head and smiled down at her youngest daughter.

"I love you too." she whispered gentley.

After Miyuki released her, Chihiro skipped along ahead, waiting for Sakura to catch up. Before Sakura could go to her sister, her mother gingerly touched her shoulder. She turned around to see her mother's jade eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Mom," said Sakura in a concerned tone. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. It's just that..." she hesitated.

"Hurry up Sakura!!" Chihiro called from a distance.

"Just a minute!" Sakura called back. She turned back to Miyuki, waiting for her answer.

"Mom, what is it?"

"You're not still thinking about that boy, are you?" she asked.

Sakura looked at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. But she didn't only look at it, she _glared _at it. A furious, seething glare. Her whole being was full of pure hatred at the thought of Sasuke. Him leaving her alone on a bench, betraying her and everyone else, and...for treating her like she was nothing. Like she was weak. She felt her mother's gaze upon her so she decided to stop glaring and raise her head. She looked her mother straight in the eyes with an unemotional expression and said:

"No. I'm not."

"Oh...okay. Good." Miyuki said with a cheery smile, like the one Sakura used to always smile. Used to.

"Cmon, Sakura-nee-chan!!"

Sakura turned and started to run off with Chihiro.

"Aren't you gonna hug me goodbye?" Miyuki called to her.

"No time! Gotta get Chihiro to school! I'll hug you when I get back this evening!" Sakura called back.

Miyuki watched as her only daughters hurried to the Academy, knowing that there was something wrong with Sakura. It had been four months since she was found on the bench and she hasn't been the same since. She never cries, she's always in some sort of bad mood, and she never smiles anymore. Miyuki decided that she would talk to Sakura about it after dinner. Maybe she would get through to her this time.

When Sakura and Chihiro made it to the Academy gates, the pink-haired kunoichi gave her sister a stern look.

"Now, listen," she said. "I want you to practice hard today. No flirting with boys. Got it?"

"Onee-chan, why do you hate me?" Chihiro asked in a whiny voice.

Sakura sighed heavily out of irritation. "I don't hate you; you're just--"

She stopped and thought of the harsh words that hadn't come out of her mouth.

"You're just...annoying." she spat the last word.

Those words didn't even phase Chihiro, in fact she just shrugged it off. But they brought deep hurt to Sakura. They felt like a sharp butcher knife slowly and painfully digging deep into her heart until she was no more than a heartless being. Barely a person. Like him.

-

Later that afternoon, Sakura picked up Chihiro from school and decided to take her to Ino's with her. She didn't have training that day so Ino invited her over. She didn't think she would mind if she brought her sister over if she didn't get in their way. Besides, they weren't expected back home until this evening.

"Would Ino mind if I played with Gonta?" Chihiro asked as they walked down Ino's neighborhood.

"I'm sure she wouldn't. Just as long as you don't bug us." Sakura replied in a somewhat tired voice.

When they reached Ino's two story house, Sakura raised the door knocker and let it fall with a loud _thud._ A few seconds later the Haruno sisters heard running footsteps coming towards the door. The door opened to reveal the blonde Yamanaka girl with a friendly smile.

"Hey Sakura! What's up?"

"Nothing. Hey, you don't mind if my sister is here, do you? She won't get in our way."

Ino looked around confusingly.

"Your sister? I don't see her anywhere." she said.

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed as she looked around frantically. Chihiro was no where to be seen.

"Hey, Chihiro!" Sakura called. "Where'dya go?"

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Ino called in a sing-song voice as she looked under a few rocks by the porch.

"Wait a minute! Where's Gonta?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"In the back--hey! Where are you going?!"

Sakura ran around the house and towards the tall fence which led to the backyard. Pumping chakra into her feet she hopped over the fence with ease and looked around for the small blonde. To her relief, she found her playing with Gonta, Ino's black and brown german shepard.

"Hey Onee-chan!" Chihiro yelled in a cheery voice.

"Chihiro," Sakura sighed. "How did you get over here so fast? And how did you make it over that fence? There's no door to it."

"I jumped. You told me to practice."

Sakura's eyes widened in amazement.

"Y-You _jumped _over that fence??"

The seven year old nodded.

"Wow," Sakura whispered. "I couldn't make a jumped like that until I was ten."

Hearing this, Chihiro grinned as her green eyes widened.

"Does that mean I'm not hopeless? Are you proud of me, Sisa?"

The kunoichi turned and stared at her sister. She hadn't called her "Sisa" in a long time. It was Chihiro's way of saying "sister" when she was three and couldn't properly pronounce her vocabulary yet. It just kinda stuck until two years ago. Sakura closed her eyes.

"Chihiro," she said. "I've always been proud of you. You just...worry me is all." She opened her eyes and looked straight at the young girl. "I'm afraid that you'll end up like me. Not strong enough. See, up until recently, ever since I was your age I've been chasing after a boy that didn't know I existed. And as luck would have it, we ended up on the same team. I thought it would help me get closer to him, but he treated me like I was nothing. Said I was weak. And he was right. I would spend my time worrying about my looks for him rather than practice. And if it weren't for him or Naruto, I wouldn't be here. Because of that, I'm not as strong as I should be right now. That's why I worry about you."

The small blonde girl looked at Sakura with understanding eyes. She knew she was right; if she didn't practice as much as she should, she won't make it. Chihiro pushed Gonta out of the way as she sat up and walked over to Sakura.

"I'm sorry, Sisa." she said apologetically.

Sakura gingerly patted her sister on the head.

"It's alright, Chibi." (nickname)

Chihiro smiled a great big smile up at her older sister. But Sakura remained unemotional.

-

That night, Sakura and Chihiro walked down the dark, silent road of their neighborhood. Sakura had a sick, worried feeling at the pit of her stomach, like she was going to throw up any minute. It was dark, that much didn't worry her. But it was way too quiet. Not even the crickets chirped. This frightened Chihiro, so she clinged tight to Sakura as they neared their house, which was also dark.

_'That's weird,' _Sakura thought. _'Surely Mom isn't in bed already.' _

"Sakura?" said Chihiro.

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared. Why is it so quiet?"

"Don't be scared. It's probably just a blackout. And I'm sure Mom's fine." she assured her.

Sakura started to get out her house key when they reached the front porch. But she noticed that the door was slightly ajar. She hesistated before cautiously opening it and walked inside with Chihiro on her heels.

"Mom?" Sakura called.

No answer.

"Momma, where are you?" called Chihiro.

Still silence.

"She's probably upstaires." Sakura said in a calm voice.

She started up the dark stairs, careful to watch were she was going to prevent from tripping on a step. Which was a little difficult with her sister walking behind her so close that she was stepping on her heels. They finally reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hall towards their mother's bedroom. From a distance, Sakura could see that her door was slightly opened too. This startled her a bit; her mother _never _leaves doors opened like that, especially the front door and her bedroom door. She slowly walked towards the door, her heart pounding faster and faster within each step. She reached the door, opened it a bit farther, peered inside...

And screamed.

She quickly turned around to her younger sister and clamped her hands over her eyes.

"No, don't look!!"

TBC...

whew! this is probably the longest chapter i've ever written! hope you liked it! to find out what happens next, you must review!! and i won't update until i get...seven reviews!! remember: SEVEN!!! 7!! plz and thank u!


	2. glazed jade eyes

i'm sorry that it took longer for me to update than it should've! my laptop was screwed up so i had to re-type the chapters into my dial up computer so I couldn't post the chapter in time. i can't believe how fast you guys updated! ya'll are so nice! and I'm sure most of you are wondering what sakura was screaming about. well the wait is over! here is the second chapter!!

disclaimer: though I wish I did, I don't own naruto…sniff. T.T

**chapter 2: glazed jade eyes**

_recap: Sakura peered inside…and screamed. She quickly turned around to her sister and clamped her hands over her eyes. "No! Don't look!!"_

Sakura was sitting in Tsunade's office with Chihiro in her lap, scared out of her mind and crying her eyes out as a result.

"Where's my mom?" the seven year old sniffed.

Tsunade gave Sakura a sad glance. It certainly wasn't going to be a walk in the park to explain to a seven year old what had taken place in their household.

"Sakura," said Tsunade in a quiet voice. "Are you sure it was-"

"Yes. I'm sure." Sakura answered dryly.

Tsunade sighed heavily with despair.

"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to make sure. You've got to make a positive identification."

Sakura didn't say anything but nodded, as she remained unemotional.

"Follow me." Tsunade sighed unhappily.

Sakura stood from her seat and carried Chihiro as she followed her teacher to the hospital. The fifth Hokage led the Haruno girls to a department that sent chills down their spines and sent hot tears down Chihiro's face. A morgue.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called for her assistant.

"You called, Milady?" the brown haired assistant asked as she rounded the corner and walked towards them.

"Take Chihiro back to my office. She doesn't need to see this."

"Yes ma'am." She said as she gave Tsunade a small bow before she walked over to Sakura who was holding a sniffling Chihiro. "Sakura, may I?" Shizune asked as she held her hands out.

The rosette haired kunoichi and tried to hand her sister over.

"No…" Chihiro sobbed. "I wanna stay with Sisa." She wrapped her arms tighter around Sakura's neck.

"Chihiro, you have to go. I can't let you see this." Sakura told her sister stoically with a hint of gentleness in her voice. The young girl looked up at her sister with wide teary eyes.

"You'll be fine."

Chihiro nodded sadly and unwrapped her arms from Sakura's neck as she leaned towards Shizune. The Hokage's assistant took the frightened, crying girl in her arms and started to walk away, but Chihiro suddenly leaned back over to Sakura and kissed her goodbye. The kunoichi reached her hand out and caressed the child's face in an act of comfort, and walked back towards Tsunade, who was standing in front of a white door. Sakura turned back to look at her sister one last time before she continued, but Shizune had already teleported them back to the Hokage's office.

"Are you ready?" the shizou asked her student.

Sakura nodded.

Tsunade slowly opened the door and entered with Sakura behind. The room was white. That was the first thing that came to Sakura's mind. That and clean. But it smelled of something; an odor that Sakura had always hated and feared: Death. But the aroma wasn't what disturbed the twelve-year-old kunoichi, or what made her stomach churn with disgust and grief. It was who was lying on a metal table in the middle of the room with a white sheet spread over their body and face.

Tsunade glanced over at Sakura and could see all the emotions she was feeling in her narrowed, jade eyes and stern face: Anger, hurt, sadness, grief, and guilt.

'_This is the very last thing I want to do to her,' _thought Tsunade. _'But it must be done.'_

She then reached her hands towards the head of the sheets and slowly pulled them back. Sakura's eyes shook with unshed tears as she stared at the face of the body that lied before her. It was not a pleasant sight, but it looked better than before since it gotten cleaned up. But it was still scarred and bloodied. And her eyes were opened. They were what disturbed Sakura the most.

"Well?" Tsunade asked.

Sakura sighed heavily.

"Yes. That's her…my mother."

A tear managed to leak out from her jade eye and quickly run down her face as she stared at her mother's own jade, but now glazed, eyes.

-

_Flashback_

_Sakura peered inside and found the least expected and most horrifying discovery she had ever seen. Inside her mother's bedroom, was blood. Everywhere. All over the once snow white walls, now stained with crimson, the dresser, the floor, and all over the bed sheets, which matched the walls. But worst of all, a body, sprawled over the bed, motionless. Lifeless. Who's face had been carved with a hunting knife. Her body was split open, organs were completely visible and more blood was spilling out like a raging waterfall. _

_"Oh my God..." Sakura whispered. "Mom..." But then she remembered Chihiro. _

_"No! Don't look!!" she screamed as she clamped her hands over Chihiro's eyes. _

_"WHAT?! Onee-chan, what's wrong?!" she cried in a startled voice as she placed her hands over Sakura's._

_"Go call Tsunade." Sakura said as calmly as possible. _

_"What??" _

_"Just do it!! And don't look back in here!!!" Sakura yelled as she pushed Chihiro in the opposite direction._

_-_

_"Hello?" Tsunade asked as she answered her phone._

_"Ts-Tsunade?" Chihiro sobbed into the phone. _

_"Chihiro? What is it?" she asked after taking note that she was sobbing. _

_"I-I don't know! W-We were looking for mommy, and we c-couldn't find her! Sakura went i-into her b-bedroom, and screamed! Sh-She told me not to look inside, a-and she made me call you. I think something's wrong!! I-I'm scared..."_

_"All right. Chihiro don't move, and listen to what Sakura tells you; tell her that I'll be there in five minutes. Okay?" Tsunade told her in a calm voice. _

_"O-Okay..." Chihiro sniffed. _

_End flashback_

_-_

Tsunade and Sakura returned to the Hokage Tower to find Shizune, with Chihiro in her arms, pacing around the office, trying to get the child to go to sleep. But her attempt was failing, especially when she had seen that Sakura had returned. She managed to wriggle out of Shizune's grasp and ran over towards Sakura to hug her legs.

Sakura gingerly lifted her little sister and started to rub her back, trying to calm her down.

"You two can sleep at my house tonight." Tsunade told them gently as she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "There's no way I'm letting you go back there."

"Thank you." Sakura replied.

"But where's mommy?" Chihiro asked tearfully.

Sakura looked at her sister then looked at her sensei, letting her know that she would tell her. Tsunade nodded understandingly. And with that, Sakura walked outside into the cool, midnight air, carrying Chihiro with her. She spotted a nearby bench, walked over to it and sat down with Chihiro in her lap.

"Sakura," said Chihiro thoughtfully. "What did you have to do that I couldn't see? And where's mom?"

The eldest Haruno sister sighed heavily with despair. This wasn't going to be easy. She laid her hand on the blonde girl's head, which was resting on her chest, and rubbed her upper arm in a comforting manner.

"Chihiro," she started slowly. "Tell me…What do you know about life and death for a ninja?"

"A ninja must face that possibility everyday. We swore to protect our village even if it cost us our lives."

"What else?" Sakura asked unemotionally.

"And we must also understand that even someone precious to us can be in just as much…danger…as we are…"

Chihiro turned around to give her sister a questioning look.

"Sisa, why did you want me to tell you that?"

Sakura gave her younger sister a sad glance.

"Chihiro… do you remember when Tsunade wanted me to give a positive identification for something?"

"Yeah." She answered nonchalantly.

"Do you know why we were in that hospital?"

"No…"

The pink haired girl sighed once more.

"Mom's hurt." she whispered.

A look of relief swept across Chihiro's face.

"Oh! How long is she gonna stay in the hospital? Is she hurt bad? Is that why you didn't want me to be in there? When's mom coming home?"

Hearing all these excited questions about their mother, tears started to leak out of Sakura's eyes.

"Sisa, what's wrong? Please don't cry." the small blonde said as she wiped Sakura's tears away. "It makes me sad when you cry."

How can Sakura do this to her? Chihiro was so thoughtful, sweet and selfless. Always thinking of others instead of herself. She doesn't deserve to lose a mother at so early an age. But she did deserve to know the truth. And Sakura owed her that much.

"Chihiro…" she whispered sadly. "Mom's not coming home."

Chihiro's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

"The department in the hospital…was a morgue. Tsunade wanted me to make a positive identification of a body. To make sure that it was…Mom."

Chihiro's eyes stung with hot, spilling tears.

"No Onee-chan…no…" she sniffed.

Sakura wrapped her arms around the crying girl, both of them in a world of grief. Alone.

TBC…

there's the second chapter! In the later chapters, it's gonna be a timeskip when sakura's fifteen and maybe when sasuke comes back. how will sakura react? review to find out! plz and thank u!!


	3. unexpected happenings

ehehe… sorry for the wait. this chappie is about how sakura deals with all the crappy stuff at school and blah, blah, blah. just the normal crappy stuff that we have to deal with. my cousin was reading this while I was typing it and she was all, "eww!! rachel, that's so gross!!!" and I was all, "get over yourself!! It's completely normal!!" well anyhoo, enough of my babbling… here's the third chapter! yay!

disclaimer: for me not to own naruto…is a cruel, cruel thing.

**chapter 3: unexpected happenings**

Sakura awoke when she felt the warm sunlight shining in through the bedroom window and onto her face. She looked around to find, to her great disappointment, that everything that had happened wasn't a horrible nightmare when she realized that she wasn't in her house, but Tsunade's. She noticed Chihiro sleeping beside her in a large white t-shirt, like the one Sakura was wearing except Sakura also wore black shorts. The kunoichi quietly stepped out of the bed in attempt not to wake up her sister, but the attempt failed.

"Uh, Onee-chan?" Chihiro asked sleepily as her eyes fluttered open halfway.

It was obvious that she was still half asleep, but Sakura wouldn't dare leave her by herself. She picked her up and carried her to the kitchen to find Tsunade sitting at the table.

"Morning Tsunade-shishou." said Sakura, a little surprised to see her.

Tsunade's head shot up from her hands and looked towards the direction the voice came from.

"Oh…Sakura. Good morning." she said in a quiet voice. "Do you want breakfast?"

"Sure…" Sakura said hesitantly. Now that she thought about it, she _was_ hungry. She hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.

She walked up to the table and sat down in a chair next to Tsunade, with Chihiro still in her lap sleeping as the fifth Hokage got up from her seat and went to the stove to fix Sakura breakfast.

"She seems pretty tired." Tsunade joked, looking at Chihiro.

"Yeah, she's out." Sakura replied.

"Would you like for me to take her off your hands for a while?"

"No. It's okay…"

Tsunade sighed as she turned her attention back to the stove.

'_I should've known better than to ask her that.' _she thought. _'After what happened last night, there's no way that Sakura's gonna let Chihiro out of her sight. At least, not right away.'_

After breakfast, Sakura couldn't help but space out every five minutes with an unreadable expression. This worried Tsunade.

"Sakura," she said. "Are you all right?"

Sakura quickly turned towards Tsunade at the sudden sound of her voice.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"You just keep spacing out. Anything you wanna talk about?"

The girl with bubblegum pink hair slightly lowered her head. She _did _have some things to talk about. _A lot _of things, as a matter of fact.

"No…Chihiro might wake up." she answered unsurely.

"You can set her on the couch in the living room." Tsunade pointed to the next room through the doorway where the couch was clearly visible. "She'll be all right." she said when she noticed Sakura's I'm-not-so-sure expression.

"Okay…" she said hesitantly. She got up from her seat, walked into the living room and laid her sister on the soft, leather couch. Sakura slowly made her way back to her seat beside her teacher in the kitchen.

"All right," Tsunade started slowly. "What is it that you need to talk about?"

Sakura blushed as she thought of all the things she wanted to talk about. Things that she expected to discuss with her mother, but…

"Umm…I dunno." she murmured sheepishly. "Just…things."

"What kind of things?"

Sakura remained in awkward silence.

"Sakura, if you wanna talk about something, you've gotta let me know."

The young kunoichi sighed.

"Well," she said. "These were things that I kinda expected to talk to my mom about…" her voice trailed off.

Tsunade now had an idea of what Sakura was talking about. She sighed heavily thinking about what she should say to her; she always dreaded the day that Sakura would ask her such a question.

"Go on." she told her.

"…I turned thirteen a few months ago…same as most of my friends…and I was just wondering…"

"Why you haven't started like they have?" Tsunade asked with a smile.

Sakura flushed. Tsunade had hit it dead on.

"Sakura, it's nothing to worry yourself over. Just because you don't start at the same time as your friends doesn't mean that you won't ever start. But trust me, it's not something that you'd really want. You think you want it because it's a sign of growing up and becoming a woman. And that's all that any kid wants at your age. So, just don't stress over it. 'Kay?"

Sakura remained unemotional, except for the blush, and just simply nodded.

"So…anything _else _you wanna talk to me about?" Tsunade asked with a mischievous grin.

"Uh, err, n-no. Th-That's okay. I'm good." Sakura stuttered embarrassingly as she left the room, leaving Tsunade to laugh to herself.

-

That Monday, Tsunade offered to let Sakura and Chihiro stay home from school, but Sakura wouldn't hear of it.

"No. We shouldn't let something like this keep us from school. The Academy and the high school are our only chance of surviving on our own now. But thank you, Tsunade-shishou."

Tsunade was taken back on how Sakura was acting like nothing happened. It was like it didn't even faze her. Maybe it didn't.

"Fine." She sighed. "Go on now; you'll be late." She said as she shooed them off.

After Sakura dropped off Chihiro at the Academy, she arrived at the high school, which was two blocks down the road. She stuffed her books into her locker, pulled out the necessary materials for her first class and shoved them into her backpack. She closed her locker door and was surprised to see Ino standing beside her.

"Oh Ino! Hey."

"Hey." She replied with a sad smile. Sakura knew what her friend was thinking.

"You heard." It wasn't really a question; it was more like a statement.

Ino nodded and wrapped her arms around Sakura's neck.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered.

"Don't be. And I'm fine; don't worry about me."

"Huh?" Ino questioned as she pulled back. "Really? You sure?"

"Well, yeah." Sakura replied. "I can't let something like this keep me from training and getting stronger. I'm okay. Trust me."

"Well…okay. If you're sure." Ino said hesitantly.

"C'mon. We're gonna be late for first period." Sakura said as she swung her backpack over her shoulder and started to walk down the hall.

"Speaking of _period…"_ Ino said mischievously as she ran up to Sakura.

"Ino, don't start." Sakura said in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry. Already did!"

"Ugh! I really don't want to get into this right now."

"Okay, okay." Ino said as she held her hands out in front of her. "You know I just bring it up to bug you."

"I know." Sakura said stoically. "I just don't wanna think about it. I mean, it could happen at any time without warning. What if it happens in gym class?!" she said as she brought her hands up to her face.

"Fret not, my fine, pink haired friend," said Ino as she rested a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "It's not like coach is gonna check your panties. Even if she wants to." She had a mischievous smile plastered on her face as she ran off to class in order to prevent from being smacked across the head.

-

Sakura felt uncomfortable throughout the whole day. All through first period, she felt the eyes of her fellow classmates upon her constantly. And every time she walked down the hall it went from so noisy that you'd think that your ears would burst to so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. It was very awkward, having everybody think the same thing about you, or what had happened to your parent.

'_I wonder if this is how Sasuke felt for a while…Hmph. Knowing him, he probably got over it in the first few hours.' _She thought bitterly. _'Wait—why am I thinking of _him? _Ugh. I just need to forget about him for good. I gotta clear my head.' _

It went on like this for several days: Sakura would be in an awkward mood all day, what with all the constant stares and deadly silence and all. All this new, unwanted attention made Sakura think more and more of her mother and kept her mind off her studies and training. This irritated her greatly.

"Hey Sakura-chan!" yelled a loud blonde from the other end of the hall.

"Hey Naruto." Sakura said stoically.

"How ya feelin'?"

"For the eleventh time, I'm fine. Except for the fact that everyone keeps staring at me, and they're always quiet. And I think I'm failing most of my classes. Probably because I just can't get my mind off of…you know."

"Don't worry Sakura. You'll be back to normal before you know it. Believe it!" Naruto assured her with the nice guy pose.

"Hn. Thanks."

"Huh! Now you're even starting to talk like—"

Sakura sent Naruto a death glare, interrupting him of the last word.

"Uh, sorry." He apologized as he waved his hands in front of him in defense.

"It's okay." She sighed. "I just…need to forget…well anyway, sorry that I dumped this on you."

"Oh, it's no problem! If you need anything just ask. 'Kay?"

"All right."

"Aw man! I'm gonna be late for biology again!!! Iruka-sensei will kill me!!" Naruto yelled as he ran off.

"Wait! Iruka-sensei teaches at the Academy!!" Sakura called. But Naruto was too panicked to hear.

"Baka." Sakura whispered bitterly to herself.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Ino said as she popped up behind Sakura.

"Where'd _you _come from?!" Sakura yelled in surprise as she whirled around.

"Now, _that's _a question for the doctor." The blonde said smiling. "Anyway, you ready for the big, bad test in medic class? I hear that it's crushed everybody who's taken it so far today. And all the years before."

"No way. I think I'm getting the nerves or something. That's never happened before." Sakura said in a worried tone.

"That's okay. I got us something. It'll help us with the test." Ino said as she dug through her purse and finally pulled out some gum.

"Gum? _That's _what's gonna help us pass the test? _Gum?" _she questioned as she gave her friend an odd stare. She took the gum from Ino's hand and studied the label.

"_Bubblelicious Gum?! _These things are frickin huge!!"

"Oh, sorry! Not _that_ gum." Ino took back the package in Sakura's hand and pulled out another. "_This _gum." She said with a gleam in her sky blue eye. "And I can't guarantee that it'll help us pass, but it'll help us relax!"

"It doesn't have marijuana in it, does it?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"No, of course not!" Ino exclaimed, shocked that her friend would think that she would give her pot.

"Then how would it—"?

"Well, it's got _something _in it, but it's not dangerous." The blonde explained. "This gum is made for the purpose of relaxation and nothing else. It's even been tested."

Sakura thought for a second. "Well, okay. If it'll help me relax." She said as she took out a small square piece from the packet and popped it in her mouth.

"Atta girl! And don't stress; you'll pass. You're the top student!!" Ino encouraged as she did the same and placed a piece of gum in her mouth.

After a few seconds of walking down the hall to their next class, the gum's effect started to take its toll on the girls, as they felt a lot more relaxed than usual. But maybe it worked _too _well on account of Ino almost running into the closed door of their medic class, but Sakura pulled her out of the way. Before she went in, Sakura started to feel less relaxed and more dizzy and nauseous.

"How nice of you to finally join us, girls." Anko said sarcastically as Ino and Sakura walked in.

Ino had quickly taken her seat at the front of the room and waited for Sakura to take her seat beside her. But the pink haired kunoichi was getting sicker by the minute. She looked up to the front of the room where Anko was at to see her standing next to a table with a CPR dummy laying on it. Sakura stared at the lifeless dummy for a second and suddenly and instant flash came before her green eyes and the dummy was no longer there, but her mother lied on the table instead, staring at Sakura with cold, lifeless eyes.

Seeing this, Sakura screamed and jumped back, capturing everyone's attention. But suddenly they started laughing at her, except Ino and Anko, and she had no clue why. Was it because she screamed? 

"Oh my God, Sakura!!" Ino exclaimed as she pointed her feet.

Sakura looked down, and to her horror, saw that she was standing in a puddle of blood that was trickling down her leg.

-

Tsunade was sitting next to Sakura on the living room couch, trying to make her feel better.

"You okay?" she asked.

"What do you think?" Sakura whispered coldly.

"I remember my first time." Tsunade said with a small smile. "I was about your age and it was on the school bus. I refused to move from my seat so the bus driver had to drag me out."

"Everyone was watching." Sakura whispered sadly.

"It'll be all right." Tsunade assured her. "They'll forget about it in a few days."

Sakura sighed. "As if I wasn't a freak already."

"So?" the fifth Hokage gave her an "everything's-gonna-be-all-right-bud" look. (A/N: that's from Hannah Montana XP)

"Everybody's a freak."

Sakura looked up at her shishou. "That's what my mom used to say. 'Let you freak flag fly.' "

Tsunade laughed. "Haha! You're mother always was funny."

"Yeah." Sakura said stoically. "Was."

She got up and left the room as Chihiro came in.

"Grandma Tsunade? Is Onee-chan gonna be all right?"

Tsunade stood up and walked over to the young girl. She crouched down to her level to have eye contact.

"Of course." She said with an assuring smile. But deep down, Tsunade knew that she wasn't ever going to be the same. And she had a sick feeling at the pit of her stomach that something much worse was going to happen.

TBC…

And there's the third chappie! I hope ya'll liked it. When you review, plz don't criticize. But if you must, plz be gentle. You might break my wittle gwass heart. p.q

The next chapter is gonna be a timeskip when sakura is fifteen, chihiro is ten, tsunade is…older. And will it be the chapter that sasuke returns? How will sakura react? to find out, you must review!! That is the only way I will update! MWAHAHAHA!!! … unless my dial up screws up too…jk!


	4. surprise sakura! he's back

hello hello my wunnerful viewers! if you are reading this than i would like to say thank you! Some people don't read the author's note at the top of the page even when it can be really important! anyhoo…this is the timeskip chapter that you have been waiting for! will it be the chapter that sasuke appears in? read it and you will see! and sorry that the last chapter was kinda blah. I kinda had writer's block… ehehehe… (--') I admit; it was a little weird for a filler chapter. I just kinda threw it in there to add on to sakura's angst-y personality. I know for a fact that humiliation to one self can make you even more depressed. And though she's not really an angst kind of person in the real series, she is in this story! And to make this story a success, she must become more angst than sasuke!! Muahaha! But don't worry; she'll get over herself eventually…or will she? -shifty eyes- dun dun duunnnnn!

disclaimer: a-b-c-d-LSD, gummie bears are chasing after me. One is red, one is blue, the green one says I don't own naruto. XP my friend taught me that song! except the original version doesn't include naruto…which I don't own. The original version will be at the bottom for anyone bored enough to read…jk!

**chapter 4: surprise, sakura! he's back…**

_3 years later…_

A fifteen-year-old girl with hair the color of cherry blossom petals silently strolled down the busy streets of Konoha with a blonde girl that came up to below her shoulder trailing behind her, who was about ten and on the verge of making genin.

The pink haired girl slightly stumbled.

"Chihiro, could you not walk so close? You're stepping on my heels." She said agitatedly.

"Sorry Sakura." The blonde girl apologized.

"It's okay." Sakura sighed. "You're just so…skittish lately. What's going on with you?"

"Mm.. Just…nothing." Chihiro murmured.

Sakura kept her stoic expression, but she was actually very angry with herself for not noticing until now. Chihiro has been like this for the past three years. Around the time they found their mother's body. But Sakura had been so consumed with her anger, depression, training, and the thought of revenge that she had barely notice her sister at all. And since they were living by themselves again, Sakura was the only person to take care of Chihiro. And yet, she ignored her.

"Chihiro," she started slowly. "I want you to know…that I'm sorry."

Sakura didn't have to explain herself for Chihiro to know what she was talking about. She knew. And Sakura realized this when her little sister wrapped her arms around her and rested her blonde head on her chest.

After a few minutes in the same position, Sakura started to feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she noticed people staring.

"Okay, okay. Enough with the mushy sisterly love stuff, we gotta get you to school." Sakura joked slightly.

Chihiro quickly looked up at her with an eager expression that suddenly turned to a little disappointment when she saw that Sakura's face contained no smile. Only the same stoic face. But Chihiro has lived with Sakura long enough to know that her statement was merely a joke as she pulled away.

Sakura put her arm around Chihiro's shoulders and together they walked to the Academy. But suddenly stopped when she felt a dark yet familiar chakra close by. She turned to see no one in particular and the chakra was gone. Sakura shrugged it off and continued towards the Academy.

After the pink haired kunoichi dropped her sister off at school she started to walk back to the apartment. She had no training today so she thought she might as well make like a Shikamaru and be lazy all day.

She was pretty tired due to lack of sleep the night before because of her 8-hour shift at the hospital and wanted to get home quickly to rest. She decided that a shortcut through the park would be the quickest way. Halfway through the park she got sleepier and sleepier by the minute, and the sleepier she was the lower her guard was. Suddenly she felt another presence close by. Too close.

"Who's there?" she demanded.

No answer except the sound of a rustle in the bushes beside her.

"I said who's there?!" she yelled, as she quickly put on her gloves, ready to attack.

"All right, all right. Calm down little missy." A man said as he emerged from the bushes.

He was tall, about 5'9, looked to be a very strong man in his mid-thirties, possibly violent, and was covered in tattoos of dragons and demons that made him more intimidating to Sakura. He wasn't exactly that handsome either.

Sakura cringed at her observations as he casually walked over to her.

"What's a cutie like you doing out in the middle of the woods all by ya'self?" he slurred as he loomed over her.

Sakura had to fight down a gag; the beer on his breath was so intense that she was sure she would throw up at any second.

"No tellin' what kind of creeps can be hiding out here. Put yourself in a whole mess of danger, you could."

"Oh, well, I was just on my way home." Sakura replied hastily. "Thanks for the warning though. I'll keep it in mind." She started to fast-walk away.

"Hey, what's your hurry darlin'?" said the man as he roughly grabbed her upper arm.

"Walking out here by yourself, you never know when some creep might get the…_wrong idea."_ He smirked menacingly.

Sakura then realized that she had been pushed against a tree. Her green eyes widened in fear; this man was a rapist.

"Let me go!!" she screamed.

"Oh, I don't think so. You might get hurt." He whispered wickedly in her ear.

Sakura pumped her fist full of chakra and was about to give him one good blow that would send him all the way to Switzerland. But before she could, he grabbed her fist and Sakura felt all the chakra being drained out of it.

"Wha…What the--?!" She didn't see this one coming.

"You know ninjustu?!" she yelled in surprise. She surely didn't expect him to be a ninja of any kind with an appearance like his. Matter of fact, probably hardly anyone could.

"Yeah, I suppose I do." He smiled wickedly. "Don't know much of me, do you? Well, you're about to get to know me real good!"

Sakura attempted to scream out in fear, but it turned into a scream of surprise and shock when a long sword pierced through the man's chest, causing blood to splatter all over Sakura.

The man collapsed on the ground with a sickening _thud. _Sakura placed her hand on her chest to see if her heart was still beating. She looked up at the dark figure that owned the sword. She couldn't see his face due to the black hood, but she did see two blood red eyes peering from the shadow of the hood.

"Uh…Th-Thanks. Who are you?" she asked.

"Hn. Even after all this time, you're _still _weak. And annoying." And with that, the figure disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving a dumbfounded Sakura.

"No…" she murmured. "It can't be…No way."

After a moment of thinking, she came to a conclusion and glared a seething glare at the ground.

-

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!!" Naruto screamed excitedly as he got up from his seat at Itchiraku and ran towards her.

"Not now Naruto, I'm in a hurry. I've got to get to Tsunade."

"But that's just it! She's giving a missing nin his sentence right now!! And we're gonna go see him!!"

"What do I care about some missing nin and their sentence anyway? It's not my problem." She said coldly.

"Oh, you'll see…" he said mischievously as he grabbed her arm and dragged her to the Hokage tower.

-

"TSUNADE-BAA-CHAN!!!" Naruto screamed as he pounded on her door.

"What?! I'm busy you idiot!!"

"Tsunade-shishou, if I could please have a moment of your time; it's urgent." Sakura said calmly from behind the door.

For a moment there was no answer.

"Fine…I suppose. Come in, you were gonna have to see him sooner or later." she sighed.

"All right!" Naruto said excitedly. "Boy, are _you _gonna be surprised!" he said pointing to Sakura.

"What are you talking about Baka?" she said as she opened the door.

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the person Tsunade was talking to. She already knew that the person was a missing nin, but she did not know for certain whom it particularly was. Until now.

The black locks of his chicken-butt shaped hair covered most of his face, but she was able to see his cold, unemotional black eyes. How she had hated those eyes.

"TEME!" Naruto shouted with his toothy grin.

"Hn. Dobe…" he smirked. His gazed turned from the smiling kuuybi vessel and landed on the stunned cherry blossom.

"…Sakura."

Sakura was speechless. But she couldn't stop herself from glaring daggers through the last Uchiha.

"Well Naruto, Sakura…I was just giving Sasuke his sentence. Normally, acts of treason by leaving your village for the enemy would be death. But seeing as you've not done anything that would threaten the village, and that you've killed Orochimaru, I'm putting you on probation for 5 months. You are not to leave the village without my knowledge or permission and you are not to go on missions until after your probation either. You will have to be watched at all times by anyone of your former team. Is that clear?"

Sasuke nodded. Though he didn't much like the idea of not being able to go on missions, it was better than death.

Tsunade turned her attention to Sakura, who was still glaring at Sasuke.

"Sakura?" she asked in a worried tone.

She wasn't exactly sure how Sakura was going to react: either she'd revert back to the squealing fangirl, or she would break his face with her superhuman strength, which could possibly kill him.

Sasuke smirked inwardly.

'_Hn. Look at her: completely speechless. Now she's probably gonna turn all fangirl and start crying and hug me and tell me how much she missed me and loves me or something.' _**(A/N: a little arrogant today, aren't we sasuke?)**

Sakura quickly walked over to Sasuke.

'_Here we go.' _He thought.

She slapped him. Hard.

As if the silence wasn't awkward enough. Everyone's eyes, including Sasuke's, widened five times their average size. Well, it wasn't exactly how Tsunade had pictured it but it was close enough. While Naruto on the other hand was trying his best to fight down fits of hysterical laughter. He _definitely _didn't see this one coming. And frankly, he thought it was rather funny.

Sasuke didn't see it coming either, but he certainly didn't think it was funny in the least. But he regained his stoic composer and placed a hand on his sore cheek where he felt a bruise appearing.

'_Yeah, I guess I deserved that.' _He thought. But there was no way he was going to admit it.

He stared at the glaring Sakura and said nothing. This angered her even more. Sasuke started to get frustrated as well; she had the nerve to slap him, yet she wasn't going to yell or anything?

"Well?" he said.

"Well what? I don't have anything to say to you." She growled.

"Uh, Sakura? What was it that you wanted to ask me?" said Tsunade, trying to change the subject.

"…Nothing." She walked towards the door. "And by the way _Uchiha, _I didn't need your help." And with that, Sakura stormed out of the office.

Tsunade and Naruto stared at Sasuke in confusion. What could she be talking about? But Sasuke remained unemotional as usual.

-

"Don't worry Teme, Sakura will be all right. She just needs some time to get used to it." Naruto said as he slurped down his fifteenth bowl of ramen.

"What do I care?"

"Aww, c'mon Sasuke! Why do you hafta be such an ice cube?"

"Hn."

"Oh no, don't you start with that famous two letter word!!"

"Hn."

"All right, where's my Sasuke dictionary?"

"Hn."

"Okay, change of subject! So, you killed the snake guy huh? That's why you came back?"

"…"

Sasuke didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Yeah…I killed him. But that's not the reason I came back."

"Huh? It's not?" Naruto asked as he abruptly put down another bowl of ramen. "Then what is the reason?"

"I killed my brother…Itachi."

Naruto was a little shocked, but not really. He always knew that Sasuke would kill him someday.

"That's good to hear Sasuke." Naruto said with a kind smile.

"You still don't get it do you?" Sasuke groaned.

Naruto blinked.

"Get what??"

"Itachi was only part of the reason I came back…Do you remember what I said about my goals?"

Naruto put his hand up to his chin to look like he was in deep thought.

"Hmm…" he murmured thoughtfully. "Something about Hokage, right?"

"That was yours!"

"Oh yeah!"

Sasuke mentally slapped his forehead. No one could be this dense. But apparently, Naruto could.

"The second part of my goal? After I killed Itachi?"

"Hmmm…Oh yeah.." Naruto said. "Oh…Oh!! _Oh…" _Naruto smiled seductively. _"That _goal."

Naruto laughed at the blush on Sasuke's face.

"Yeah…" he said. "The restoration of my clan."

TBC…

Well, well, well! ;) sasuke's gotta restore his clan…how's he gonna do it? He can't do it alone. It takes two. Hope you guys liked this chapter! plz review! And just so you know, I've got writer's block. So if anyone has any suggestions for what should happen next, please tell me! I'm open to all opinions and suggestions! Plz and thank you! I'll try to update soon. Bye-byes for now! But before that, here's the gummie bear song my friend taught me!! (and just so you know, the melody of the song is the ABC song…except after the word high)

**a-b-c-d-LSD **

**gummie bears are chasing after me**

**one is red,**

**one is blue,**

**the green one took my "effing" shoe**

**and the next time you decide**

**to get high tell that green gummie bear to give my "effing" shoe back!! **XP


	5. sasuke's dilemma and naruto's resolution

Thank you for the wunnerful reviews! I'm glad you guys like my story! I got frustrated at myself for two reasons the other day: one, I got writer's block (so if this next chapter is kinda suckish, please don't punish me by hanging me by my thumbs! XO) and two, every time I post a new chapter, I get an idea for it but it's too late to put it in the chapter cuz I already posted it!! I do this every time! An idea for the chapter to make it better never occurs to me until AFTER I post it!! AARRRGH!! I know I could edit it or something but I hate doing that. Mostly cuz I'm lazy, so sue me. anyhoo… enough of my babbling, here's the next chappie!! I'm gonna try and make it a little funny. So read it and laugh. Laugh little children! LAUGH!! MUAHAHAHA!!! Cough hack. –shifty eyes- you heard nothing.

disclaimer: actually, there was a time where I DID own naruto…but then my cousin pushed me off my bed and I woke up. (--')

**chapter five: sasuke's dilemma and naruto's resolution! **

"The restoration of your clan, huh?" Naruto said thoughtfully with a mischievous grin plastered on his fox-like face. "Aren't you a little _young _for that? You're only seventeen."

**(A/N: change of plans. They're gonna be a little older than I originally planned. They are all gonna be 17 going on 18. and chihiro is gonna be 13. remember that!) **

"So?" Sasuke said coldly.

"So, don't you remember the rules around here? It's against Konoha law to have sex under the age of eighteen!" Naruto practically shouted. Sasuke clamped his hand over Naruto's mouth.

"Shut up you idiot!!" he hissed. "Do you want _them _to hear?"

"Hmmph?" (Who?)

Sasuke glanced around before he continued as if he was about to tell him that he was in love with Lee. (sorry lee fans! I had to put that in there!)

"_Fangirls…" _he whispered in Naruto's ear.

Naruto shoved Sasuke's hand from his mouth.

"Oh, c'mon! It's not like they're THAT bad. Me and some other guys around here would love to have fangirls! You're just overreacting."

"Yeah, it's easy for you to say considering you don't HAVE fangirls chasing you everywhere until you've lost the grasp of sanity!"

"Well, it's different because I actually WANT fangirls!" Naruto shouted.

"That's because you're a lonely baka who's to stupid to realize that a certain Huugya actually _loves_ you!!" Sasuke shouted back.

"_NEJI?!"_

Sasuke whacked him on the head.

"No, you idiot! _Hinata!" _

Naruto turned completely crimson.

"Wha-Wha-What?! Hi-Hin-Hinata?! What?! Seriously?! For real?!?!" he stuttered in a spazzy manner.

"God, you _are _dense. Everybody and their mother know that she's in love with you. Though no one really knows why."

Naruto didn't notice Sasuke's comment; he was too busy daydreaming about Hinata.

'_That was kinda fast…just found out and he's ALREADY daydreaming. He must be that lonely…' _the raven-haired boy thought.

"Naruto…you okay?" Sasuke asked as he waved his hand in front of Naruto's goofy face.

"Huh? What?" Naruto asked in a dazed voice.

"All right. Now that you know that the Huugya girl likes you for God knows why, and we got the whole fangirl thing covered, I need your help." Sasuke said stoically.

"With what??"

Sasuke mentally slapped his forehead.

"Naruto, for five minutes, just stay with me." he said as calmly as he possibly could. "I need you to help me with the restoration of my clan."

"WHOA!! SLOW DOWN PRETTY BOY!!! I DON'T GO THAT WAY! BESIDES I ALREADY HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!!" Naruto screamed as he quickly backed away from Sasuke.

"You don't have a girlfriend; you just found out that she likes you! And besides, I don't need your help in _that _area! Good Lord, what's wrong with you?!" Sasuke exclaimed in disgust.

"Ehehe…sorry Teme." Naruto chuckled sheepishly.

Sasuke replied with a simple "Hn".

"So, what do you need my help with?" the blonde boy asked.

"I need a strong kunoichi for a wife. You've been around here longer than I have. So first off, who do you recommend?"

"Well, lessee…there are four top kunoichi in the village, five if you count Temari." Naruto started. "But she's already with Shikamaru." **(A/N: sorry shikaino fans!) **

"There's Tenten!" he suggested.

"No. She's strong, but she's too much of a tomboy. Besides, I heard that the other Huugya got her." Sasuke retorted.

"Okaayy…there's Hinata. But she's mine! Stay away from her!!"

"All right dobe. Calm down. I wasn't interested in her anyway."

"What, she's not good enough for you?! Take that back you teme!!"

Sasuke smacked him across the head.

"Snap out of it man!"

"Uh, sorry. Anyway, there's Ino…"

Sasuke merely gave him a "you-must-be-out-of-your-mind" look.

"Right…sorry I mentioned." Said Naruto.

"Isn't there anyone else? Who's the fifth?" he asked.

Naruto slowly turned to his best friend/rival with a gleam in his blue eyes.

"Well…there's _Sakura-chan." _

Sasuke's coal black eyes widened ten times as a blush started to creep upon his creamy white face.

"Sakura?! You're serious?"

"Yeah! She's one of the strongest—no, THE strongest kunoichi in the village! She even surpassed Tsunade-baa-chan's super inhuman strength! And she's HOT too!"

"Hn. So why don't YOU go after her?"

"Hinata is the only love in my life and I just love Sakura like a sister."

"Need I say it again? You JUST found out about Hinata!"

"So?" Naruto retorted as he stuck a tongue out at Sasuke like a ten year old.

"Oh, real mature."

"So who's it gonna be?" Naruto asked curiously.

Sasuke thought for a long time. He went over the list of kunoichi again in his head over and over until it started to sound like a broken record. They were either taken, or an annoying blonde. Except the girl with cherry blossom hair that hadn't left his mind since their first encounter in six years. There was no other. It would have to be Sakura.

"Sakura." He said bluntly.

"Huh? What?" Naruto murmured. Apparently Sasuke had been thinking about his decision longer than he thought. Naruto had been sleeping on the counter of Itchiraku with the ramen guy trying to tell them that they're closed. It was already dark.

"I said 'Sakura'." He repeated when they walked through the dimly lit streets.

Naruto grinned as he rested his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, I pretty much knew that you two would end up together."

"But there's one problem," said Sasuke. "I'm pretty sure she hates me. Can't blame her…" he whispered the last part to where Naruto couldn't hear.

"It's like I said Sasuke: all she needs is time."

"But it's been six years Naruto. You saw how angry she was. I wouldn't be surprised if she _never _forgave me."

"Sasuke," Naruto said as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You just need to be confident. Trust me, she'll come around. You'll find a way to get through to her. Believe it!"

Sasuke smirked.

"But remember Sasuke," Naruto said in a dead serious voice. "You need to promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me that you won't _dare _hurt her again." He growled. It startled Sasuke a little. "She's been through so much. You have no idea. And I'm not just talking about the night you left. It's so sad…I always see her die a little more each day."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, almost afraid of what the answer might be.

"A few months after you left, her mother was murdered."

Sasuke's eyes widened but he kept his stoic expression.

"She was all alone. Like you. But you know what's worse? She had a little sister to take care of; she became a mother at the age of twelve. **(A/N: not literally!)** That day changed her forever. And she was already messed up after what you did. She gave you her heart, and you tore it to shreds and threw it back in her face. You left her on that cold, hard bench, even after she cried her love for you. Ever since that day, she hasn't smiled. She's changed a lot. And it's all your fault."

Sasuke felt his heart slowly and painfully shattering apart into small, fragile pieces. He was so consumed with power and revenge, that he never knew how much pain he was causing her.

"Sasuke, if you hurt her again, I swear I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that you'd be only able to eat your food through a straw!!"

"Naruto…" the raven-haired boy said. "I promise…I won't hurt her again."

The blonde ninja smiled.

"Good."

"Now, I need your help with one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Help me learn more about Sakura."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything. Favorite color, favorite gem, ring size…err, you know. Basic stuff."

"Well, lessee…" Naruto thought for a second. "Red, emerald, and…I don't know the ring size. Just wing it!"

"Wing it?! I can't just wing it!" Sasuke protested.

"Well, here we are!" Naruto announced as they arrived at his apartment. Since Sasuke was to be watched at all times he was going to stay with Naruto for a while.

"Oh, joy." Sasuke said sarcastically.

'_Well, that was a big butt load of help. I only found out two things! Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.' _He thought.

TBC…

There's the fifth chapter for ya! The next chapter might be a little better…it's gonna kinda revolve around sasuke learning more about sakura, or sakura remembering stuff, and yada, yada, yada…you know what I mean. I'll try to update asap! And if there are any suggestions about the story, plz let me know! Cuz I tend to get writer's block very easily…ehehe… anyhoo…bye-byes for now!! And if you review, which you will, you get a free dancing panda!!! WHEEE!!! PANDAS!!! cough.


	6. memories of soubi

Hey guys! Thanx 4 tha reviews!! And here as promised, is the DANCING PANDA!!

**o****o**

(**O**.**O**)

""

**THE DANCING PANDA!!**

**TADA!**

WHEE!! Ain't it cute?! I made it myself…! Anyhoo…this next chapter came to me in a dream! I'm freakin serious!! It came to me last night in a frickin dream!!! Which was the night of 11/15/07. pretty cool, huh? XD well, enough of that. Now you may read the next chappie!!!

disclaimer: roses are red. Violets are blue. Misashi says, I don't own naruto. And by the way…VIOLETS ARE PURPLE!!! XD

**chapter 6: memories of soubi…**

The next morning Sakura was sitting beside the living room window, watching the busy people hurry by and letting the warm sunlight hit her face at the same time, making her look more angelic than usual.

"Morning Onee-chan." Chihiro yawned as she walked in groggily.

"Oh, hey." Sakura replied plainly as she slightly turned her head.

"What's for breakfast?"

"Just find something in the kitchen."

"Well, what'd you have?"

"Nothing. Wasn't hungry."

"Wasn't hungry?!" Chihiro exclaimed. "What's wrong with you?! You're always hungry in the morning! Are you sick?" she went over to examine her older sister.

"I'm fine Chihiro." Sakura said in an annoyed tone. "If I were sick, I'd know. I am a doctor after all."

Chihiro didn't say anything for a minute, but then just frowned.

"You're thinking of that guy again, aren't you?" she asked in a whisper.

"Wh-What guy??" Sakura asked, a little taken back. She didn't expect her sister to ask her that. "Do you mean Uchiha? Cuz, I'm not thinking about him at all." And she was right; she wasn't thinking of him at the moment.

"No. Not him." The blonde girl said. "Soubi."

Sakura blushed crimson.

"I see. Well, I gotta go." Chihiro said stoically. Then she left the room.

"Uh, Chihiro—" Sakura called. But her sister had already left the room and was out of hearing range.

'Soubi…' 

_-_

_Flashback (3 years ago)_

_Fifteen-year-old Sakura was walking her ten year old sister Chihiro to the library to look up some things for Chihiro's history report. She really didn't want to be at the library at the moment. She'd much rather be training with Tsunade, but Chihiro wasn't allowed to walk the streets by herself at this time of day. And Tsunade was the Hokage and was busy with who knows what, so Sakura taking her was the only option._

"_Chihiro, why do you always have to wait 'til the last minute to finish a report?" Sakura scolded. "I could be training right now, but no! You had to wait until the last minute AGAIN, and I get stuck babysitting you AGAIN! You're procrastination is cutting into my valuable time. I have a shift at the hospital, you know."_

"_Well, so-rry! I can't help it! I'm a ten year old with a short attention span. So sue me!" Chihiro replied. _

"_Short attention span?"_

"_Yeah, short attention sp—Hey look, ants!!" _

_Sakura slapped her forehead. This pretty much proved Chihiro's point. _

"_Chihiro, let's just get to the library and get this over with." She groaned. _

"_Okay, fine. To the libra—Hey look! More ants!!" _

_-_

_At the library…_

_Chihiro was sitting at a small round table reading comic book with a history book in front of it, so Sakura wouldn't know she wasn't studying. Sakura on the other hand was in the romance section of the library looking for a good book. There were times like this whenever she was looking for such a book that she felt disgusted with herself because she was acting like Kakashi. But she would then remind herself that she reads these kinds of books for entirely different reasons. She reads them not for enjoyment of _certain _scenes, but because of the story itself. And she thought that the romance scenes were actually very beautiful. In a romantic kind of way. But she knew that reading these stories would not make her feel any better. They would not fix her broken heart or fill the gigantic hole within it. Sometimes it would only make it worse. 'Why can't that be me?' she'd think. 'Why can't I have love?' But now she decided that she wouldn't have anything to do with love or romance except the books. _

_Suddenly a crimson red book on a high shelf grabbed her attention. She read the title on the spine. "Seduction is Forever" _

'_Sounds like a real page-turner.' She thought with a mischievous gleam in her eye. But then she frowned. 'Oh crap. I'm starting to think like Kakashi-sensei.' _

_The shelf was pretty high so she had to stand on her tiptoes to attempt to reach it. Her finger had stroked the corner of the book and she was about to grab it when suddenly a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the book with ease. Surprised by the sudden movement, Sakura lost her balance and fell on her rear with no soft landing. _

"_Ow.." she murmured as she caressed her sore rear. _

"_Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you all right?" came the voice of the person who grabbed the book. _

_She quickly jerked her head to glare at the person and was going to curse him out, but she stopped. And stared. _

"_I'm terribly sorry. Do you need help?" the man asked as he reached his hand out towards Sakura. _

_Only two words came to Sakura's mind: SMOKIN' HOTT!!!! _

_He was tall, about a foot taller than Sakura, had a great tan (but not as dark as Guy's), he had dark brown hair, long eyelashes, and a sexy smile that made Sakura turn red and made her heart flutter like a humming bird's wings. And his eyes, oh! His eyes…were a bright yet dark blue. Kinda like Naruto's. _

"_Guh…" Sakura muttered stupidly. _

"_Guh?" the man repeated as he raised a thin eyebrow. _

"_Guh-Gru-Great!! Great! Thanks! I-I could use some help. Tha-That'd be great!!" she stuttered like an idiot with an embarrassed expression to match. _

_She took his hand and was immediately pulled off the floor and into his arms. Sakura blushed furiously as she realized that she was resting her head onto his chest and that his arms were wrapped around her. She quickly pulled back and shamefully looked at the ground. _

"_I-I'm sorry…" she said embarrassedly. _

"_No, no. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snatched that book. Are you hurt?" _

"_Just my pride." She smirked. _

"_So, 'Seduction is Forever' huh? Aren't you a little _young _for this book?" he asked with a sly smile. _

"_I'm fifteen." She frowned. "It's not like I haven't read others before, and it's not like I don't know what's going on."_

"_Still, fifteen's pretty young."_

"_Yeah, well look at you! You're no older than I am!" she pointed out. _

"_Actually, I'm twenty-one." He laughed. _

_Sakura felt her face get even redder. _

'_21?!' she thought. 'The heck?! He looks a lot younger than 21!' _

"_Oh…well…" Sakura couldn't figure out the right words to say. _

"_I'm Sakura." She blurted out. At least it broke the silence. _

"_Soubi." He said as he took Sakura's hand and shook it. _

"_Soubi…" Sakura repeated thoughtfully. "That's a nice name." _

"_Thanks, but not as _beautiful _and _lovely _as Sakura. And I don't just mean the name." He said with a sexy smile as he kissed her hand._

_At this point, Sakura was so red that even her scalp was crimson. She had never felt this way before. Not even with Sasuke. But it wasn't enough to make her smile. Just a little embarrassed. _**(A/N: little? Yeah right! XP)**

"_Well, I believe that this book belongs to you." Soubi said as he handed Sakura the red book. _

"_Oh thanks." She replied as she took the book hesitantly. _

"_Could I treat you to dinner tonight? It's the least I could do to make up for my rudeness earlier." He offered. _

"_Uh, thank you, but I really shouldn't. I gotta get my sister home, and I have work, and just a lot of things I have to get done." _

"_I see. Perfectly understandable." He smiled. _

"_But maybe some other time…" she suggested, feeling a little guilty. _

_Just then, Chihiro came bounding around the corner. _

"_Onee-chan! I'm ready to go home now!" _

"_Chihiro, be quiet!" Sakura whispered angrily. "This is a library!" _

"_Well, so-rry! I—Hey, who's this?" she pointed at the tall man standing beside her pink-haired sister. _

"_Um, Chihiro, this is Soubi. Soubi, this is my sister Chihiro."_

"_Hi Soubi-san!" Chihiro grinned. _

"_Hello." _

"_Onee-chan, can we go now? I'm starving!" Chihiro whined as she tugged on Sakura's sleeve. _

"_You know Sakura, you can still take up on my offer to dinner if you two are hungry." He offered, noticing Sakura's tired expression. It was obvious that she was in no mood to cook dinner tonight. _

"_Well…" she thought. "Are you sure?" _

"_Of course! No trouble at all! And you won't have to pay anything." _

"_Uh, okay. Thanks." Sakura was relieved that she wouldn't have to cook or pay. She was almost flat out broke. _

"_Great! I'm starved!" Chihiro cheered. "Thanks Soubi-san!" _

"_No problem Chihiro-chan. C'mon, I'll give you a piggy-back ride on the way there." He picked up the giggling blonde and set her on his shoulders. _

'_Wow.' Sakura thought. 'He's really good with kids.' She followed them out of the library. _

_-_

_After dinner, Soubi insisted that he walk Sakura and Chihiro home for their safety. _

"_Thanks for dinner Soubi-kun! Good night!" Chihiro said as she hugged him and ran in the apartment. _

"_Yeah, thanks. But you didn't have to walk us home, you know that." Sakura pointed out. _

"_I wanted to. The least I could do." He smiled a sexy smile that made Sakura blush massively. _

_Silence._

"_So, uh…Chihiro's really taken a liking to you. That must mean you're a good guy." Sakura mentioned to break the silence. _

"_What can I say? I love kids." _

_Silence._

"_Well, um…I better get inside before Chihiro starts wondering where I am. Good night Soubi." She started to turn towards the apartment. _

"_Wait Sakura. I wanted to give you something." _

_Said girl turned to look at him and was surprised at what he was holding: a beautiful necklace with a golden cross with diamonds encrusted in it. _

"_S-Soubi! Where did you--? When? Why?" she asked in choppy questions as she reached her hand out to touch the gorgeous cross. _

"_Well, I've had it for a while. It kinda brings up some memories I don't wanna think about, so I decided that you should have it. Besides, it'd look perfect on you. It shows off your beautiful neck." He walked behind Sakura to put the necklace on her. _

"_S-So-Soubi…I can't accept this. It's too much…" she stuttered in a whisper. _

"_But please? It would mean a lot to me, Sakura." He whispered in her ear. _

_She blushed even more as her breaths became shallow. _**(A/N: she's blushing a lot in this chapter, huh?)**

"_Uh…uh, okay." _

_Soubi grinned. _

"_Thank you Sakura. That means a lot." _

"_Heh. What can I say? It's the least I can do." _

End Flashback… 

_-_

After that night, Soubi and Sakura had become close friends despite the age difference. He comes to see Sakura and Chihiro quite frequently and occasionally buys them gifts. He had become close to Chihiro as well. She would always be so excited to see him and he would always play with her as if he was her age. This made Sakura feel a little relieved. Now that Soubi was around, maybe raising Chihiro wouldn't be so difficult.

But a year after they had met Soubi, Chihiro started acting a little weird. She wouldn't be as excited to see him anymore and she no longer had the same interests as she did before. And to make matters worse, she was failing school. Was she bored of him? Sakura would sometimes wonder that whenever Soubi was around and Chihiro would be stoic and cold.

Sakura clenched the golden cross that hung from her neck. She would talk to both of them about the situation when she had the chance. She turned to look at a picture on the wall. It was a picture of Sakura and Chihiro with their mother. Back when they were happy.

'_I'll find out what's wrong with Chihiro.' _She thought. _'I won't let you down Mother.'_

-

"HEY TEME!! WAKE UP!!!"

Sasuke felt a splash of ice-cold water on his face and jolted out of bed. He turned and gave Naruto, who was holding an empty wet bucket and grinning like an idiot, the famous Uchiha death glare.

"What's your problem?! And what are you grinning about?!" he demanded.

"Heeheeheehee…" Naruto giggled in a creepy manner. It kinda scared Sasuke.

"What?"

"Oh nothing. I was just getting tired of hearing you talk in your sleep…about _Sakura."_ Naruto grinned mischievously.

Sasuke blushed slightly.

"Uh…wh-what did I…say?" he asked, afraid of what Naruto might tell him.

"Nothing really, just… 'Oh, Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!! Slow down!!' " He panted mockingly.

"D-Did I really say that?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"No but it's fun messing with you."

"Oh, thank God." Sasuke breathed.

"But you _were_ moaning her name." Naruto pointed out. "Having naughty dreams, aren't we Sasuke?"

"You dobe! It's nothing like that!!" the raven-haired boy protested.

"Then what is it?"

Sasuke remained silent. This question had truly stumped him.

"That's what I thought." The kyuubi vessel said triumphantly. "Now come on. We're gonna go see Sakura."

Sasuke stood up from his bed, shivering as droplets of water dripped from his long black locks of hair.

"Why?" he asked as he went to the bathroom for a towel.

"You wanted to learn more about her, so we're gonna learn!"

"Where are we meeting her at?"

"The hospital. That's another thing: she's a doctor!"

'_Hm…' _Sasuke thought to himself. _'Strong _and _a doctor…this is a pretty sweet deal.' _

"Don't forget that she's hot too!" Naruto said out of the blue.

"What?! How did you--?"

"It's written all over your face, Teme. And nothing gets by Uzumaki Naruto!!"

'_Except the whole Hinata thing.' _Thought Sasuke.

"Sure Naruto. _Nothing _gets by you."

-

A few minutes later they arrived at the hospital to see Sakura going in through the entrance.

"Hey Sakura-chan!!" Naruto yelled.

She turned to look at them with a cold stare.

"Hey Naruto. Uchiha."

"Hn."

"So Sakura, got another shift today, huh?" the blonde ninja asked.

"Yeah. Tsunade-shisou is working me to death." She replied with a tired expression on her face.

"Well, why don't you take today off and hang out with us?"

"Have you lost what little brain cells you have?! Do you realize what Tsunade would do to me if I skipped work?! No way. I don't think so. I'm not going through _that _again."

"Through what again?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'd, uh, rather not talk about it."

Both boys sweatdropped.

"But I guess I could meet you after work at that ramen place you like Naruto." She offered.

"All right!!" he shouted as he jumped ten feet in the air. "Me and the teme will see you later!"

"Huh?" Sakura questioned. Then she turned to Sasuke. "Oh. Sorry, I forgot you were here."

Sasuke would've fallen over anime style if it wouldn't make him look stupid. So he kept his stoic composure except for the anime vein popping out of his forehead.

"Hn." Was all he said.

Naruto saw an opportunity in this and decided to act quickly.

"Well, I've got some plans with Hinata to do, so I'll just leave you kids alone." He said with a sly smile.

"What plans?!" Sasuke and Sakura asked in unison.

"I'm gonna ask her out! Have fun!"

"Wait a second!" Sakura shouted. But Naruto had already disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

She turned to give a cold glare to Sasuke, who wasn't as comfortable with the situation as she was.

Sakura sighed. "Guess you're stuck with me today, since Kakashi is on a mission."

"Guess so." He replied coldly.

TBC…

Well Sasuke is stuck with sakura for the whole day…what's gonna happen? Cuz I tell ya, A LOT can happen in one day…XP you'll have to review to find out! but until then, give me some suggestions for the next chapter cuz I get writer's block very easily…--' pweety pweese? –makes sad puppy dog eyes-


	7. who's THAT guy!

YAY!!! TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! As of today, I AM A WOMAN!!!! … or at least a fifteen year old. November 23!! Whee! My b-day! D as a birthday present to myself, here is the next chappy!!

disclaimer: for my birthday, I wish I owned Naruto…but we all know that's not gonna happen.

**chapter 7: who's **_**that **_**guy?!**

Sakura walked into the hospital with Sasuke behind, neither one of them was happy with the fact that they were stuck together all day.

"All right, you just wait here until I'm done with work." She said as she pointed to a chair in the waiting room.

"Fine." Sasuke said casually as Sakura started to walk out of the room. "But you do know that if you leave me by myself for a second, you'd be disobeying _Tsunade's orders?"_ he smirked.

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks with one foot hovering above the ground by an inch. She knew very well that disobeying Tsunade's orders meant dire consequences. And she couldn't leave him with somebody else; that would go against the orders too. He would have to stay with her at all times.

"Okay, fine. Come with me, but don't get in my way!" she warned.

"Hn." He followed.

-

Sakura carried with her a bag as she walked over to a bathroom.

"I'm gonna go change." She said as she pointed to the bag. "You stay out here."

"What about Tsunade's orders?" Sasuke smirked evilly.

"No way. You can't come in here anyway!" she pointed to the bathroom.

"Why not? It's a _mixed _bathroom after all."

"What?!" Sakura turned her attention to the sign on the door, which clearly read, "Men/Women"

"You've _got _to be kidding me." she murmured angrily.

She and Sasuke walked inside, both of them having different yet the same feelings about the situation. Sakura was practically devastated. It's not enough that she has to baby-sit him; she has to change clothes in front of him! Sasuke was getting a kick out of it though. Mostly because it was irritating the mess out of Sakura. But they were feeling somewhat nervous about this for some reason.

Sakura unzipped her bag and started to take out the nurse uniform.

"Turn around." She demanded.

"Now just because you're my probation officer doesn't make you the boss of me. I can do what I want; the only thing you have control over is whether or not I leave the village." Sasuke replied.

"WHAT?!" Sakura exclaimed with her angry green eyes wide as saucers and her face as red as a cherry.

'_That's actually a really good point.' _She thought.

"Yep. So technically, I can look all I want." He smirked.

Sakura grew infuriated at his arrogance.

"I said turn around!!" she barked.

Sasuke grew a little scared and quickly turned around. She really _had _changed.

After a few moments of staring at the bathroom door, he grew tired of waiting for her to get finished.

'_Well, surely she's done by now.' _He thought as he slowly turned his head.

Wrong. He had turned around in time to see Sakura, with her back to him, take off her shirt to reveal the back of her bra. Sasuke turned crimson when she reached her hands behind her and unhooked the bra, letting it fall to the floor. Sakura let out a small sigh of relief. That bra was really irritating her. Sasuke realized this when he heard her whisper,

"Whew. Praise Jesus."

Sasuke had to fight down a laugh. He didn't know why he thought it was funny. It was probably the way she said it. Sometimes if someone says something a certain way, you can tell what his or her expression is. This was one of those times. Wait a minute; if Sasuke is acting like this because he can imagine her expression, does that mean that he think she's…_cute?_

He shook his head.

'_No. No way. I can't get distracted by things like that. I have to focus on my goal. And that just happens to include Sakura's help. Nothing more, nothing less.' _He thought.

But he couldn't help it; he continued to watch Sakura undress and redress. He watched her take out from the bag a different bra: a red one with black lace. Seeing it, the color of Sasuke's face matched the bra. It looked really _suggestive. _

'_How much did Sakura change over the years?!' _the young Uchiha thought frantically.

She strapped the bra on and reached in the bag for the rest of her clothing. She started to take off her shorts when she suddenly stopped.

"Hey," she said. "Are you still turned around?" she asked.

"Yeah." Sasuke lied. There had to be a reason why she asked that, and there was no way he was gonna miss it.

"Good. Keep it that way." She replied coldly.

Sasuke's right eye twitched in annoyance. Just for that tone she had, there was no way he was gonna turn around now.

The rosette haired kunoichi started to unzip her shorts.

'_Ugh. I can't believe I let Ino talk me in to wearing this thong.' _She thought as an uncomfortable expression spread across her face. _'It feels like an atomic wedgie. And they're so unhygienic.' _

She let her shorts drop to the floor along with Sasuke's jaw. The thong matched the bra.

'_HOW MUCH __**DID **__SHE CHANGE?!?!?!' _

His dark eyes widened and his head cocked to one side as he stared at his former teammate take off the thong and put on a new pair of panties. After that little display, Sasuke slowly turned his head in a shameful manner. He had seen things he shouldn't have.

"All right. I'm done." Sakura announced about thirty seconds later.

Her and Sasuke walked out of the bathroom when the kunoichi noticed something peculiar.

"Are you _blushing??" _she asked suspiciously with a hint of anger in her voice.

'_Oh crap! She knows!' _Sasuke thought after noticing her slightly angry tone.

But before he could come up with a lame excuse, Shizune came running down the hall towards them, calling Sakura's name.

"Sakura! Sakura!"

"Shizune, what is it?"

"Tsunade-sama needs you; it's urgent!"

"Oh, great." Sakura groaned. "Come with me." she grabbed Sasuke's arm.

Shizune quickly led them to a delivery room to find Tsunade trying her best to comfort a young woman, who was obviously in pain, going in labor.

"It's about time!" Tsunade said. "Sakura, I need you to deliver this baby."

"WHAT?!" Sakura practically yelled. "B-But I-I've never done th-this before!! I wouldn't know what to do!"

"Be quiet!!" the godaime scolded in a whisper as she clamped her hand on Sakura's mouth. "Don't let the mother hear you!"

"Sh-She doesn't know what to do?!?! What kind of hospital are you running here?!?!" the woman shouted.

"Crap. Listen, it's no big deal. All you have to do is tell her to push until the baby comes out."

Sasuke gagged. "That's very specific." He groaned.

"Why can't _you _do it?" Sakura whined.

"I have to treat a shinobi that just came from a fight. He's seriously injured." Tsunade answered. "You can do it Sakura. Like I said, it's no big deal." She started to walk out of the room.

"Wait! What if—?"

"Look, if someone can deliver a baby on that haunted island on _LOST, _then you can deliver a baby in a hospital." The blonde doctor answered before Sakura could ask her question.

"But I'm not Kate! And _she's _not Claire!" the pink haired girl said as she pointed to the pregnant woman. "And this isn't a show! It's reality!!"

"Ah, so you _do _watch that show. Then you should know how it turns out." and with that, she was gone.

-

"Hey, wake up."

'_Huh? What happened?' _

Sasuke sat up confused. He looked over at Sakura who was hovering over him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I told you to get some hot water and you just happened to come back at the wrong time so you fainted like a frightened little girl." She explained.

Sasuke got up from the hard floor, his body aching from the hard impact. Unbelievable. The great Uchiha prodigy. Fainted. "Like a frightened little girl," is how Sakura put it. And she's not known to lie, so it must be true.

-

Afterwards, Sakura got the rest of the day off because of her excellent work in the delivery room and her lack of sleep. She changed back into her normal clothes, locking Sasuke in a stall to make sure he wasn't peeking, and both of them walked out into the bright sunshine.

"So now what?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, not sure—"

"Hey Sakura!" came a familiar voice. To Sakura at least.

They both turned to see a man running up to them. Sakura looked pleased to see him, while Sasuke looked absolutely irritated.

'_Who's _that _guy?!' _he thought.

"Hello Soubi." Sakura greeted.

'_Soubi?!' _

"Hey. Who's your friend?" Soubi asked.

Sakura turned to the young Uchiha.

"I wouldn't exactly call him a _friend." _She said coldly.

"Oh, my bad." Soubi said with a smile. "I'm Soubi." He said as he stuck his hand out towards Sasuke.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Said Sasuke unemotionally as he shook Soubi's hand.

"Uchiha huh? Cool." Soubi said before he turned to Sakura. "Oh, Sakura. I see you're still wearing that necklace. I must say, you look more gorgeous with that necklace everyday. It brings out your sparkling green eyes." He said as he stroked her cheek He smiled that sexy smile that made Sakura blush like crazy.

'_Necklace? He gave her a necklace?!' _Sasuke thought, annoyed. _'And what's with the sudden compliments? Is he hitting on her?!' _

Sasuke grew more and more jealous as he noticed Sakura's blush grow darker.

"So, uh, how long have you two known each other?" Sasuke asked suddenly. He wanted to know more about this guy.

"About three years. And you?"

"About twelve." Sasuke answered with a hint of triumph.

'_What was that?' _Sakura thought to herself. _'He sounded kinda…_triumphant. _Is he…no. No way. Not Uchiha.' _

Suddenly a picture of Chihiro clicked into Sakura's mind.

"Hey Soubi," she said, breaking up the guys little conversation. "You wouldn't have happen to notice Chihiro's…behavior…would you?"

"Like what?" Soubi asked with a weird gleam in his eye. Sasuke noticed it.

"Like…she's not the same person anymore. She's someone else."

"Uh, no. But I'll do whatever I can to help."

Sasuke furrowed his brow.

"Thank you, Soubi."

Soubi sighed disappointedly.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"I can't believe it. After three years, I _still _can't get you to smile."

"Smiling is a waste of energy. And there's no point to it." Sakura replied stoically.

"All right, if you feel that way. Anyway, I'll try to find out what's up with Chihiro. How long has she been acting out?"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow.

"Two years."

"Don't worry…she'll come around." He placed a comforting hand on Sakura's shoulder and slightly started to massage it. "Well, I gotta run. See you guys later." He waved goodbye and took off.

"What was _that _all about?" Sasuke questioned.

Sakura turned to him.

"Sasuke Uchiha, are you _jealous?" _she smirked.

"No! O-Of course not!" he protested. "I just don't like him as all."

"You just met him!" Sakura shouted angrily.

"I don't know Sakura. There's something about him."

"Why are you so judgmental?! You barely know him!! I've known him for three years, and he's a great guy!! Just back off of him!!" she screamed.

"Why is he so important to you?! Do you love him or something?!" he screamed back.

"What does that matter?! That doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about!!"

"It has _everything _to do with it! Why are you defending him?!"

"Because--!"

Sakura was interrupted by the sound of the vibrating pager in her pocket. Angrily, she jerked from her pocket and read it.

"Tsunade-911"

"Oh great. Tsunade needs me at the hospital." Sakura groaned.

She glared at Sasuke and motioned for him to follow her.

-

When they arrived at the hospital, Tsunade was already pacing around so much that there was a hole in the floor from where she was walking.

"Tsunade, what is it?"

"You remember that shinobi I had to treat? Well, you should come see him."

Sasuke and Sakura followed the godaime through the white halls of the hospital until they reached a certain room. Tsunade pointed to the bed to reveal a blonde ninja covered in bandages and bruises.

"Naruto!" Sasuke and Sakura shouted in unison. "What happened?!" they ran over to him.

"Well…" Naruto croaked out. "I went to Hinata's house to ask her out and when I did she said yes and then she fainted. When Neji found out he kicked my butt."

If Sakura and Sasuke weren't so cold, unemotional and angry at each other, they would've burst out into hysterical fits of laughter.

TBC…

YAY! I managed to get the chapter posted on my b-day! That was my goal for this week. XD anyhoo…so what's up with Soubi? And what's wrong with Chihiro? What horrible secret will Sakura discover? Or what hilarious misunderstanding will she unfold? To find out, you must review!!! Muahahahahahaha!!!!


	8. scarred

Guess what!!! I'm typing on my new laptop that I got for my birthday!! It's so awsome!! I'd love to tell you all the details, but I'm pretty sure that you'd much rather read the next chapter. But I gotta warn ya, though you guys thought the last chapter was funny, this one's not. And I'm pretty serious about it so forgive me for my lack of energy.

Disclaimer: I don't own naruto

**Chapter ****8: scarred**

"So you have a sister?" Sasuke asked as they re-exited the hospital. "I didn't know that."

"What difference does it make?" Sakura replied coldly.

"Are you still mad?"

"No."

"You sound mad."

"I said I'm not mad!"

"She hissed."

"Would you just shut up?!"

Sakura wasn't as mad as she was before, but she was very irritated. Who does Sasuke think he is? He has no right to judge Soubi like that. After all, she had known Soubi for three years, and Sasuke had known him not even a day.

"Hn. Whatever." He scoffed.

Sakura sighed.

_'He means well,'_ she thought. _'After all, he wouldn't be judging Soubi if he didn't…care about me.'_

She shook her head.

_'No, no. Snap out of it Sakrua. He doesn't care about you at all. He's just stubborn, selfish and arrogant. Like all Uchihas are.'_

But still, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty for snapping at him. Curse her big conscious.

"Uh, yeah. I have a sister." she said suddenly.

"What??"

"You're question. Yes, I have a younger sister."

"You have to take care of her all by yourself?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah."

_'Wow. Strong, a doctor, and she's great with kids. Possibly. But still, it's a sweet deal. But I have to know more about her.'_

"I heard what happened to your mother a few years back. I'm sorry." Sasuke said.

Sakura flinched slightly but said nothing.

"So what about your father?" he asked. He probably didn't realize that was a personal question.

Sakura frowned.

"He died. I was seven years old."

"Oh." Sasuke said shamefully.

"Don't be ashamed. You didn't know." Sakura assured him.

Sasuke looked over at Sakura to catch a glimpse of an assuring smile. He didn't find one.

"So…your sister…are you close to each other?"

"Why are you asking all these questions?"

"Just curious. Hey, I've been away for a while. I want to know what's been going on."

Sakura turned her gaze away from him and towards the road she was walking on.

"Well…recently we've been sorta…distant." her silky voice had a hint of worry.

"You mean her 'strange behavior'?"

"Yeah. And I don't know what's wrong with her. To tell you the truth…it's really scaring me."

Sasuke remained silent for a minute. He ran the conversation with Soubi in his mind repeatedly, looking for something that would give him some kind of idea about Chihiro.

Suddenly it clicked.

"Sakura," he said. "Do you remember what Soubi said. Or how he was reacting when you asked him about Chihiro?"

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"When you first asked him he had some gleam in his eye. Like he knew something."

"How could you tell?"

"When you've trained with Orochimaru for a few years, you learn something about interrogation. That includes human reactions when lying."

"Okay, so what else?"

"There was another thing I noticed. You said her behavior was strange. But he said something about her acting out. You never said anything about her acting out. That must mean he knows something."

Sakura's heart started to race.

"What are you suggesting?" she asked, getting more worried.

"I'm not sure. But I have a feeling about him. You should talk to Chihiro."

"Uh, okay. I got a call from her teacher this morning. She wanted to talk to me. Maybe I'll find out something."

"Cool. If you do, let me know. I'd like to help." Sasuke said assuring.

Sakura blushed a little.

-

A few hours later Sakura went over to the Academy, leaving Sasuke with Naruto at the hospital. She felt that she needed to do this alone.

When she reached Chihiro's classroom, the teacher was waiting outside for her. She informed Sakura that Chihiro was sitting in the principal's office.

"So, what did she do now?" Sakura asked as she walked into the classroom behind the teacher, Ms. Rin Tatami.

"Sit down Sakura." she gestured to a chair in front of her desk. The pink haired girl obliged.

"Uh, Sakura…" Rin said in a unsurely voice. "I'm very worried about Chihiro. She's, as you may have noticed, acting different. And her grades are dramatically dropping."

"Yes. I've noticed." Sakura replied.

"Forgive me for asking, but has there been any…problems at home?" Rin asked as she folded her hands in front of her face, her elbows supported by the desk.

"No." she said in a "I-can't-believe-that-you're-asking-me-that" voice.

"Sakura, do you and your sister live alone?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any…guy friends or boyfriends that come over, or baby-sit her at all?"

Sakura gave her a puzzled look.

"Why are you asking me this?"

Rin sighed.

"Sakura…I think Chihiro's being sexually abused."

Sakura's eyes widened in utter shock.

"Wh-What?!"

It was obvious that the teacher was getting no pleasure whatsoever in telling her this.

"But…it can't…it's not.." Sakura stammered.

"It can, and it is _very _possible. I'm very sorry to be the one to tell you this."

"What proof do you have?!" Sakura demanded.

Rin's face saddened more.

"Well…I've been watching her, and one thing is that she whispers things to some of the other children. It's not _what _she says, it's _how _she says it. It's seductive."

"It could be anything!!" Sakura shouted. "Just because she whispers a certain way doesn't mean that she's being--!"

"Sakura, just listen." Rin demanded.

Sakura restrained herself.

"Unfortunately, I am a rape victim. I know Chihiro's behavior because that's how I and many other girls have acted."

Rin's eyes welded up with tears.

"I'm sorry."

Sakura was speechless.

-

"My desk is over here." Chihiro said as she pulled Sakura in the classroom by the hand.

"That…That's nice honey."

"Sisa, am I in trouble?" Chihiro asked as she sat down on top of the desk and Sakura in the seat.

"No, no. Of course not. I just need to ask you a few questions. Kay?"

Chihiro nodded.

"Well, you're grades are dropping. Do you have an explanation?"

The blonde girl shrugged.

"Okay, um…"

Sakura didn't know how she was going to do this.

"Well, do you have any trouble with bullies?"

"No."

"Does anyone ever try to…make you do something you don't want to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"…Uh…Well, when Ino watches you, does she have any guys over?"

"No. She knows you don't like that."

"All right, um…what about Naruto?"

"What about him?" Chihiro asked thoughtfully.

"Does he ever do anything you don't want him to do?"

Sakura felt absolutely disgusted with herself for asking such a question about Naruto. She knew that Naruto was not like that at all. But most of the time, it's the least expected person.

"Like what?"

_B-bmp_. Sakura's heart throbbed hard.

"Like…a game or something?"

"I don't understand." the young girl stated.

Sakura sighed heavily. She decided that she should just come out blunt.

"Chihiro…does he…touch you?"

Chihiro's green eyes widened.

"…What…do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.

"I mean…does he touch you…where it's private?"

Chihiro's head sank shamefully.

"Not Naruto." she whispered sadly.

"Who honey? You know you can tell me anything. I promise you won't get in trouble." Sakura said as she caressed her sister's face.

"…"

She didn't say anything.

"Chihiro…please tell me. Whoever it is, they won't hurt you."

She looked up at Sakura with wide teary eyes.

"Soubi."

TBC…

Bet you didn't see that comin, huh? Well, okay, some of you did. Anyhoo…you have to review to see how Sakura is gonna straighten Soubi out. Or will he straighten _her _out first?


	9. confrontation

Hey party people! Sorry that the last chapter was pretty sick, but reality check! This kinda sick crap happens every day! DX … and I gotta warn ya again, this chapter's gonna be a lot worse. Just sayin! Plz don't flame! anyhoo…in the authors note at the bottom of the last chapter, when I said "he" I meant Soubi. Sorry I didn't make that clear. So what's gonna happen? How's Sakura gonna react with Soubi? What will Soubi do to keep her quiet? Well if you must know, you gotta read it!!! Muahahahahaha!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own naruto. Now hand over my flying piggy, and no one gets hurt.

**Chapter 9: confrontation**

_The next day…_

"Sakura, calm down. Now just tell me what happened." Ino said as she sat beside her best friend on her couch and caressed her back.

"He's…I-I don't know what to say! Or h-how to explain it!! It's so confusing…" Sakura stammered.

"Sakura, just tell me exactly what Chihiro told you."

"She…she said he was…she said Soubi was…_touching her."_ Sakura whispered. "Where it's…private…"

"Oh my God." Ino exhaled.

"But I-I-I can't believe it!" Sakura stood up from the couch. "Soubi?! It can't be! But I have no reason to not believe Chihiro. She's my sister after all."

Sakura started glaring again. That seething glare that says nothing more but "I'm gonna kill you". She clenched her fists and started grinding her teeth. Her breaths became raspy and ragged, making it sound like a series of menacing growls. Ino had only seen her do this once before, and it didn't turn out well. It was a few days after her mother was killed and some idiot made a comment about it. Ino became frightened.

"Sakura…" she said in a nervous voice. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna kill him." Sakura snarled.

"No! No Sakura! You'll just put yourself in danger. You need to tell Tsunade. She'll punish him."

"NO!! I need to do it! It's my business and nobody else's."

Ino got up and walked over to Sakura to embrace her in a hug.

"Please Sakura…" she whispered tearfully. "Don't do this. People like him, they're smarter than you think. He'll end up killing you…and Chihiro will be all alone."

Sakura's angry jade eyes softened.

"I'm sorry Ino." She whispered. She pulled back and headed out the door. "Will you watch Chihiro for me please? Tell her I'll be back soon."

"Sakura!"

Said girl turned to her best friend.

"Please…be careful."

Sakura nodded and closed the door behind her.

-

The infuriated kunoichi ran down the streets like there was no tomorrow towards Soubi's apartment. She had never been this angry. Not with anyone. Or herself.

_'I should've known. I should've seen this coming!' _she thought angrily. _'If I had been paying any attention at all, I would've seen that he would be treating her different. __Grooming her.__ Acting like they were best friends to earn her trust. That's what all child molesters do.'_

Sakura continued to run as fast as she could. She really didn't think of any special way to kill him. She was just gonna be simple and bash his skull in. At the moment, she didn't care if she went to prison for murder or not. She just wanted to kill him.

When she reached the door to his apartment she started to ruthlessly pound upon it, leaving dents from her inhuman strength.

"Soubi!!!" she screamed. "Open up!! I know you're in there!!!"

After a few seconds the door swung open to reveal a stunned Soubi.

"Sakura! What is it?! What's wrong?!" he asked.

"You sicko!! How dare you!! How dare you lay your filthy hands on my sister!!!!" she screamed furiously.

"Sakura what are you talking about?! Calm down!!" he said as he grabbed Sakrua's shoulders.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH ME!!!" she yelled as she batted his arms away. "What's the matter with you?! How could you?!?!"

"How could I what?!" Soubi asked. "Sakura, talk to me!"

"Oh, I'll do more than talk! I'm gonna beat your frickin face in!!" she screamed. "And don't even try to act like you're so innocent and don't know what's going on!! I know you've been molesting my sister!!"

Soubi blinked. And suddenly, much to Sakura's displeasure, a sick, evil smile spread across his face.

"Heh. I'm a guy with needs. I just couldn't stop myself."

Enraged tears welded up in Sakura's eyes.

"YOU'RE SICK!!!!!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she swung a chakra coated fist at him.

He dodged it with ease and jumped back several feet towards the window.

"You wanna kill me? Gotta catch me." He smirked as he jumped out the window.

"Wait!!" she called as she ran towards the window. They were on the fifth floor, so there was no way he could've survived. She looked down to find him running towards the woods.

_'What?'_ she thought in disbelief. _'Is he a __shinobi__?' _

But she had no time to think of that now. She jumped from the window and chased after him into the dark woods.

-

"Soubi!! Come out you coward!!!" Sakura called as she trudged around the dense forest.

"Hahahahahaha…" came an evil laugh from the dark shadows. "You think you're the strongest kunoichi in the village?" he said. "You have no idea. You're in way over your head."

Sakura's heart started to pound ten times as fast. His voice echoed throughout the whole forest, so she couldn't tell where he was hiding. This was starting to frighten her greatly.

"If you're trying to scare me, you're doing a crappy job!" she shouted despite her fear. "Come on out and fight!!"

"If you say so," Soubi sneered as he emerged from the shadows.

_B-bmp._

Sakura's heart throbbed. Soubi certainly _was_ beautiful, there was no denying that. But she didn't want anything more at the moment than to watch him suffer for what he had done to her sister. But she also wanted answers.

"Why?" she asked, or rather demanded.

"Why what?"

"Don't play dumb!! Why did you do that to my sister?!" she yelled. She looked at the ground.

"You betrayed her. You betrayed us. Soubi…you were the best thing that happened to us since our mother died. We were so…lonely. And unhappy. But you changed that. You were always there for us. Of course, our other friends would do the same but, you were different. You _actually _gave me a reason to keep living. And I thank you for that."

Sakura frowned as she felt small tears form in her jade eyes.

"But why would you do such a thing? WHY?!" she grew angry again as she looked up and glared into his blue eyes. "You _destroyed_ her!! You took away her innocence!!! You stole her childhood!!! She's _ruined_ now because of you!!! Have you no shame?! You're a disgrace!!"

A tear fell from her eye and streamed down her face.

"She's just a baby…" she whispered tearfully. "NOW ANSWER MY QUESTION AND TELL ME WHY!!!!!"

Soubi just smiled menacingly.

"I told you: I just couldn't resist. She's so _beautiful."_

At that moment, Sakura could restrain herself no longer. She pumped her fist full of chakra and came at him.

"SHUT UP YOU SICK SON OF A --!!!!!!"

Before she could finish her sentence Soubi caught her fist and quickly wrapped his left arm around her waist. He pulled her close to his body as his grip tightened on her fist.

"But of course, she could _never _hold a candle to _you." _He whispered seductively in her ear.

"You…Y-You let me go!!!" she yelled as she struggled with all her might to get away. But he was stronger than she thought.

"In fact," he whispered again. "You're so beautiful…"

He leaned in closer. "That I'm…"

He buried his face into her pink hair.

"So very…" He deeply breathed in her cherry blossom scent in such a way that made Sakura shudder.

_"Tempted."_

_B-bmp! B-bmp! B-bmp! B-bmp! B-bmp!! B-bmp!! _

Sakura felt as though her chest was going to explode. She had never been this frightened before. His strength was so much greater than hers. He could do whatever he wants. What does he want? The thought of it made Sakura shudder violently.

"Soubi!! Let me go!!!" she screamed as she struggled to free herself.

"But why Sakura-chan? You feel so nice." Soubi said as his grip tightened on her.

Every second that went by, Sakura felt weaker. She now knew what he was doing: he was draining all the chakra from her body. That's why she couldn't punch him. She wasn't afraid anymore. She was terrified.

Soubi ran his hand down Sakura's waist and to her butt. Sakura gasped as he started to feel her body. His hand went from her butt to under her shirt and started to rub her back up and down.

"S-Soubi! Stop it! Please!" she pleaded.

"No…" Soubi whispered as he breathed in her scent again. "I can't…I just can't stop myself."

He roughly pushed Sakura onto the hard ground and started to kiss her neck.

"No! Soubi! Ahh…!!"

"You're so beautiful…just like your mother was…"

Sakura's eyes widened.

"My…mother? H-How do you know what she looked like?!"

"Well, usually…" Soubi smirked. "A murderer never forgets his victims' faces."

Sakura's mind didn't register for a second. Everything was happening so fast she couldn't keep up!

"You…" she murmured. "Killed her? My mother?"

Suddenly everything clicked. He planned this from the very beginning. From the death of her mother to the library incident. From the necklace to Chihiro…It was all a plan to get to Sakura.

Wait. The necklace. She was still wearing it. How she wanted to rip it off right now and throw it in Soubi's face. But she couldn't free her hands from his grip. Angry tears streamed from her eyes like waterfalls.

"YOU KILLED HER!!!" she screamed. "GET OFF OF ME!!! YOU…_MURDERER!!!!_ OH, MY GOD, YOU KILLED HER!!!!"

"I did it so I could get to you…and away from Sasuke."

"What does he have to do with anything?!"

"I couldn't take any chances on you falling for him again, so every chance I got I made him look like a jerk. Well, more of a jerk than usual. Like when I sent that guy to rape you, I used a transformation jutsu to look like Sasuke and made that weak comment about you. I figured you'd hate him after that for sure. After all, most people don't like hearing the truth." Soubi explained.

"Truth? What do you mean?" she asked.

"C'mon, let's face it. You couldn't even defend yourself from a rapist. You had to be protected. Again." He sneered.

"Just shut up!!!!" she yelled. "You were just using that man…like you used my family! You're sick!!!"

"Let's not worry about that now…_Sakura-chan."_

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!!" Sakura screamed. "JUST LET ME GO!!!"

"But I don't want to…" he whispered as he started to kiss her neck again. "I love you Sakura-chan."

"Stop it!!! Please, just stop!!!" she begged pitifully.

She couldn't take it. Sakura relied on instinct and managed to free one of her hands and slapped the fire out of Soubi.

Soubi's mind didn't register right away. It was so sudden. Unexpected. He rose up to look at the scared girl under him.

Soubi snapped.

"You little **bleep**!!!!"

**(A/N: sorry.**** I don't like putting cuss words in my stories. So in case you're wondering, yes he called her the "b" word.)**

He brought his hand back and struck Sakura's face.

She turned her head to look at him with desperate, pleading eyes.

"Please Soubi…" she said tearfully. "Don't do this."

"You shut up!!!" he yelled. He roughly grabbed her throat, picked her up and threw her back on the ground so hard that she coughed up blood.

She tried to scramble to her feet but Soubi pushed her back down. He pinned her down by pinning her hands above her head and pulled out a kunai from her pouch.

"Wh-What are you going to do?" she managed to choke out.

"You forced me to do this Sakura." Soubi growled.

He put the kunai under her shirt and ripped it open, revealing her black bra. All the blood was drained from Sakura's face when he cut the bra off too. She wasn't terrified anymore. She was petrified. He then pressed the knife onto the base of her breast and made a deep, bloody gash.

"AHH!!" Sakura screamed out in pain. "Please Soubi! Stop!!" she cried.

"You're about to get something a lot worse than this gash!!!" he yelled in her face. "But just remember, it's your fault."

Soubi jabbed the kunai into the ground beside Sakura's face and unzipped his pants. Sakura gasped in horror.

"Oh…Oh no…no, no, please Soubi!! No!!" she sobbed.

He ignored her pleas as he bent down and started kissing all around her uninjured breast. Sakura let out a terrified moan as he did this and went over to her other breast and licked the dripping blood from the wound. It burned when his tongue came in contact with the gash. Sakura fought with all her might to try and get away from him. Her attempt came to no avail.

Soubi reached down and unzipped Sakura's shorts and roughly pulled them off. She kicked and squirmed with all she was worth, but it only seemed to arouse him more. He took the kunai from the ground and sliced the side of her panties open, cutting her hip in the process.

"Oh, Soubi…I'm begging you…_please, please STOP!!" _Sakura begged with all her heart.

"Shut up!!" he yelled as he gave her battered face a strong slap.

He unzipped his pants completely and ripped them off. He quickly spread her legs apart, despite her screams of protest, and plowed into her. Sakura felt white-hot pain sear throughout her entire body as she screamed in sobs.

Soubi continued his merciless movement as he slapped, thrashed and backhanded Sakura repeatedly. Sakura never imagined that it would feel like this. Like many other girls, she had always been curious about sex. But she would've never expected that it would hurt this much. She felt as though she was on fire. But then again, this wasn't just sex. It was brutal rape.

_'Oh please God!' _she prayed frantically in her mind. _'Please have mercy!! Please let it end!!_

After several minutes, with the pain growing worse, Soubi had finally pulled out of her bleeding and abused vagina. He stood up and redressed. Sakura was seriously injured. Her face was bruised and battered, she had a broken arm, and had deep cuts everywhere. Not to mention, her virginity was stolen from her.

Thunder boomed from overhead. It was obviously going to storm, and a bad one it seemed. Soubi leaned down towards Sakura, who was crying her eyes out, and tightened his strong hand around her throat.

"Heh. Not even a face a mother could love. But then again, you don't have a mother." He sneered.

Sakura's eyes were full of pure hatred hearing him say this and spit in his face. Soubi angrily wiped off the spit and glared at her.

"I wish you were dead." She hissed venomously.

"I can guarantee one thing, _one _of us is going to be dead!"

He put the kunai to her throat. But then he stopped. And cracked an evil smile.

"You're not even worth killing. In fact, you're not worth anything." He threw her back on the ground so hard that it could've killed her.

He watched her. She didn't move. He didn't hear her breathing. She just lied there, motionless. He smirked as he walked off into the shadows, having sick daydreams about Chihiro.

Sakura's motionless form lay in the middle of the forest floor as raindrops fell upon her like tears, the golden cross necklace still around her neck.

TBC…

In the next chapter, sasuke, naruto, and ino go out into the woods in search for the missing sakura. They find her and bring her to the hospital just in time. But more than just that happens. Sakura and sasuke decide to have a little…_conversation…_to find out what happens, plz review! And tell me what you think of this chapter. Plz don't flame!


	10. wipe her tears away

hey guys. I know that the last chapter was pretty graphic and horrific, and believe me I didn't feel too comfortable writing it at all and I hate it that it had to happen to my favorite character, but it makes the story! But don't worry, it'll get better from here! and also, I know that it's weird that I wrote a horrific rape scene and yet I won't use cuss words but that's because I'm trying my absolute best to stop cussing so much and that includes my stories…sometimes. I might let one slip. Or two or three or five…but plz bear with me! It's really really hard to stop cussing!! Anyhoo…enough of my petty little problems, read the chappy!!!

**Chapter 10: ****wipe her tears away...**

Sasuke looked outside the hospital window into the cold, dreary evening. it was raining hard, and anyone unlucky enough to be outside in it would surely get deathly ill. He had a strange, worried feeling like something had happened. It was obvious since Naruto spoke up.

"Hey teme…" he said. "Are you okay? You seemed worried."

Sasuke quickly jerked his head towards the sudden sound of Naruto's voice.

"Oh, it's…it's nothing." He said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah…Hey, you haven't heard from Sakura, have you?"

"Uh, no." Naruto answered. "But I'm sure she's fine. She knows how to take care of herself."

Suddenly the door busted wide opened to reveal an alarmed looking Tsunade and a distressed Ino.

"Boys!! Get up now!!"

"Tsunade-baa-chan, what is it?!" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, I've checked your records and you're free to go with Sasuke and Ino." She explained.

"Go? Go where?" both boys asked in unison.

"Sakura's missing!! She's been gone for hours!!" Ino exclaimed.

Sasuke immediately stood up from his seat.

"What?!" he practically yelled. "Where was she last seen?" he demanded as he walked up to Ino.

"Sh-She was so angry…" the blonde kunoichi sniffed. "For what Soubi had done…she said she was gonna go kill him! I tried to stop her, but…Oh, Sasuke you have to help me find her!! She could be dead for all we know!!"

"Wait. Soubi? What does he have to with anything?"

"That doesn't matter now," Tsunade said. "The point is that he's dangerous and Sakura is missing! I'm assigning you three a rescue mission to find her. Now go!!"

Within five seconds, Naruto threw on his clothes and the three of them were off.

-

"Look. Sakura's footprints. They lead into the forest." Said Ino as they stood outside in front of Soubi's apartment.

"And there are some bigger ones ahead of hers." Naruto said thoughtfully as he observed the trail.

"Hm? What's this?" he said as he picked up a small square picture. It seemed to have blown out of the open window to Soubi's apartment.

But Sasuke had already darted into the forest using a speed that Rock Lee would be proud of. Naruto shoved the picture into his pocket, not getting a chance to look at it, and he and Ino tried their best to keep up.

The rain was pouring down hard. It made it almost impossible to see where he was going. And the blast of cold air on his face was so cold it was almost unbearable. But he refused to stop. He _would _find Sakura. He needs her.

"Sakura!" Ino called. She cupped her hands around her mouth to make her call louder. "Sakura!!!"

She leaned up against a nearby tree and sobbed quietly. She turned around to see the person who rested an assuring hand on her shoulder.

"Don't cry Ino-chan." Naruto gave her a weak smile. "Everything will be all right."

"Oh, Naruto…you don't know that! I just know something bad has happened to her!! I can't stand the thought of losing my best friend…not again…" she sniffed.

_'Oh yeah,' _Naruto thought. _'When they first met Sasuke.'_

"Well, we're certainly not helping her by just standing here." He said.

Ino nodded. And they both fled off to find Sasuke.

Sasuke was too far ahead for them to catch up though. He didn't give a second thought about leaving them behind. All he cared about was finding Sakura. Within each minute that passed the temperature dropped plummeting. He was running out of time.

Suddenly he spotted a small clearing up ahead where obviously a struggle took place. Sasuke dashed towards it as fast as he could especially when he saw a motionless figure on the ground. His heart pounded harder and harder within each suspenseful step. But then he finally stopped.

And stared in horror.

"Sakura…" he whispered.

-

"NARUTO!!! INO!!!" Sasuke yelled.

Said boy and girl stopped abruptly and listened.

"Was that Sasuke?" Ino asked.

"Yeah! Let's go!!"

They quickened their paces tenfold.

-

In a matter of seconds, they found Sasuke. And Sakura.

Ino gasped in horror as hot tears streamed down her freezing face.

"Oh, Sakura!" she sobbed.

The rosette haired girl was a bloody mess. Her clothes were completely ripped off of her and torn to shreds and she was covered in black and bluish-purple bruises that were stained with blood.

Ino ran over to her best friend and fell on her knees beside her. She gently raised up Sakura and cradled her in her arms, her hot tears falling on her bloody cheek.

"Ino, is she alive?" Sasuke asked.

Said girl shakily picked up Sakura's wrist and placed her thumb over it. For a few seconds she tried desperately to find a pulse but couldn't.

Suddenly she felt one, but it was very faint.

"Yes…Yes! She's barely alive!" she exclaimed. "We need to get her to the hospital! Naruto, there's a blanket in my backpack. Get it out now!"

Naruto did as he was told and quickly reached in her backpack and brought out a big green cotton blanket. Ino took it from him, wrapped it tightly around Sakura and handed her to Sasuke.

He held her tightly and close to his body as they ran in hopes to warm her up. He looked down at her battered face and swore on his life that he would tear Soubi to shreds.

-

Ino and Naruto sat in the waiting room while Sasuke stayed with Sakura. She could only have one visitor every so often, and Sasuke refused to leave her side.

She was covered in bandages and had a quilt-like electric blanket on top of her shivering body. She also had a rolled up wash cloth in her mouth. Her teeth were chattering so hard that if something wasn't put in between them, they would break.

The heart monitor beeped rhythmically beside the bed she lied in. It was not a very comforting sound to Sasuke. It only reminded him that they were in a hospital. And hospitals usually mean death.

"Sasuke?"

Said boy turned to the door to see Shizune with a small blonde girl who was holding a single daffodil. He had never seen her before.

"Your time is up. I'm gonna have to ask you to—"

"I'm not leaving." He stated in a serious tone.

"But Sasuke—"

"I said no." he repeated and turned his back to her.

The girl walked in past Shizune and beside Sasuke. He turned to look at her with cold, emotionless eyes, while hers were full of life and grief.

"Are you a friend of my sister's?" she asked.

Sasuke blinked.

"Chihiro…right?"

She nodded shyly.

"Don't worry. Your sister's gonna be fine." He said stoically.

"Uh, Sasuke…" Shizune started.

"Shizune-sama," Chihiro interrupted. "C-Could Sasuke stay in here with us? Can you bend the rules just a little?"

The Hokage's assistant pondered about the situation. Well, what Tsunade doesn't know won't hurt her.

"Fine. But only for a little while." She said before walking out of the room.

Chihiro went over the little table beside the bed and placed the daffodil in a small vase. Sasuke blinked again. She was a lot like Sakura. They even had the same taste in flowers.

"So…you're Sasuke, huh?" she said suddenly.

"Uh, yeah?"

Chihiro turned around to give him a sweet smile.

"You're kinda cute. No wonder my sister used to like you so much."

The young Uchiha blushed a little. Until the blonde girl started glaring at him.

"But your looks won't change the past. I won't forgive you for breaking my sister's heart." She said coldly.

"Uh…Ch…Chihiro…?" a weak voice whispered. "S…Sas…uke?"

They turned around to see Sakura slowly opening her eyes. She shakily reached up and took the cloth out of her mouth so she could attempt to speak a little more clearly. She winced in pain and looked at the arm she raised and saw that there was an IV in her wrist.

"Onee-chan!" Chihiro said happily. "You're awake! How're you feeling?"

Sakura weakly turned her head towards her sister.

"Hey kid…" she choked out in a hoarse whisper. "I…I feel…not so good. But I'll be all right soon." She lied. She might never be all right.

"Sisa…" Chihiro frowned sadly. "Did…Did Soubi do this? Did he do the same thing to us?"

Sakura's eyes welded up with tears as she reached her hand out to touch her sister's face.

"Oh, baby…" she said tearfully. "I hope not. Not like this."

Chihiro put her hand up to her face to touch Sakura's hand.

Sasuke's heart sank. What he was seeing was something that he had always longed to have: a loving sibling relationship. There were many times where he had wished so badly that he and Itachi had had a bond like Sakura and Chihiro's. But sadly, it was not so. Nor will it ever be.

Chihiro carefully climbed in the bed with Sakura and snuggled closely beside her. Sakura winced slightly but ignored the pain. She really needed her sister right now. She wrapped her arms around Chihiro and rested her head on top of hers. Chihiro closed her eyes and slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

Sasuke decided to leave them alone so he headed for the door.

"Sakura…" he said.

She raised her head.

"Can we talk later?"

She blinked a few times, trying to understand what he was saying.

"Uh…sure." She whispered.

-

Sakura and Chihiro laid there for about an hour or more. Chihiro silently snored in her older sister's arms who was wide awake. It's not that she wasn't tired, in fact she was the most exhausted she had ever been, but she was too afraid to fall asleep. He could come and take Chihiro away from her. Or worse. Anything could happen and she was going to stay awake to make sure it doesn't.

She looked out the window with sad, remorseful eyes as she started to remember that on nights like this, all stormy and depressing, her and her mother would snuggle closely on the couch, wrapped tightly in a blanket beside a warm fire.

Suddenly she started to remember the last thing she said to her.

-

_Flashback_

_"Aren't you going to hug me goodbye?" her mother called. _

_"No time! __Gotta__ get Chihiro to school!"__ Sakura called back. "I'll hug you when I get home this evening! Love __ya__!"_

_"Love __ya__ too!" _

**(A/N: I know that they didn't say "love ya" in the first chapter, but that's cuz I made a mistake typing it and it didn't show up when I posted it. So now you know!) **

_End Flashback_

_-_

_'I should've hugged her when I had the chance…'_ Sakura thought sadly.

She turned her attention away from the window and looked at the variety of buttons on the arm of the bed. The nurse assistance button had caught her eye and she reached a limp finger out to push it.

A few seconds later, Shizune came in through the door.

"Yes Sakura?"

"Shizune, could you take Chihiro and send Sasuke in?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Of course Sakura-san." Shizune answered as she went over to the bed and gently picked up Chihiro without waking her.

"I'll take her to Tsunade." She assured.

Several moments later she returned with Sasuke.

"I'll be back in a little while." The nurse said before she closed the door behind her.

Sasuke turned to look at Sakura who looked more of a mess than before. She had the blood cleaned off, she still had the nightmarish bruises and was covered in bandages, but her eyes and expression looked regretful and dejected.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she sighed coldly.

"I'm sorry Sakura." Sasuke replied as he sat in a chair next to her.

"Why? And for what?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why do you feel sorry for me? You never have before. Hell, you never gave a damn about me. Why now?!" she demanded angrily.

"…"

Sasuke didn't know how to answer.

"I see." Sakura said calmly. "So you wanted to talk about something?"

"Uhh…yeah." He sighed.

But when he said he wanted to talk later, he meant when she was out of the hospital. Not right away. How was he going to say this? There was no way he was going to bring THAT up a few hours after they found her in the forest all beat up.

"But do you think we can talk about it…_after _you get out of the hospital?" he asked.

"Why not now?" Sakura questioned.

Sasuke grew a little nervous and started to stutter.

"Well, uh, I-I just don't think that, err, i-it's…uh, _appropriate_At least…right now."

_"Really?" _Sakura said suspiciously with a hint of anger as she raised an eyebrow.

She tried to sit up but suddenly she felt a sharp, stabbing pain in the lower part of her body. She clutched it and brought her knees up as she cried out in pain.

"Sakura!" Sasuke exclaimed.

He stood up from the chair and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" she yelled as she swung her arm at him.

"Sakura, calm down!" Sasuke pleaded. "Please…let me help."

"Just leave me alone!!" she yelled again.

Sasuke grew a little irritated.

"Sakura. Calm down." He demanded in a stern voice.

He wrapped his arms around her as he sat beside her on the bed.

Sakura struggled to get out of his grip but it only worsened her pain. She started to relax but then suddenly burst into tears and rested her head on Sasuke's chest.

"Sasuke," she sobbed. "It hurts so much!"

Sasuke's heart throbbed so hard that it hurt his chest.

_'Sakura…'_

"It hurts…please…make it stop!" Her tears continued to fall from her eyes and stained her hospital gown.

"Sakura…" Sasuke whispered. "Soubi…he did more than hit you…didn't he?"

A dark blush appeared on Sakura's face. She didn't say anything, but sobbed a little harder.

"When we found you, your clothes were completely ripped off."

He placed his hand under her chin and raised her head up so she could look at him. Her jade eyes were red and puffy from crying so hard.

"Sakura," he said with his voice breaking a little. "Did he…rape you?"

She turned away from him. She was much too ashamed to look into his onyx eyes.

"Yes." She whispered. "He raped me."

She suddenly turned herself to where she was facing Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him as she buried her face into his chest. Then she started sobbing harder than ever.

"Sasuke!" she cried. "I'm so ashamed!! Nothing has changed at all!! Nothing!! I'm still just a weak little girl!! I couldn't even protect myself from him!!"

Sasuke rested his hand on her head and started to rock her back and forth.

"Shh…Sakura…it'll be alright." He whispered.

"No it won't!!" she yelled. "Nothing will _ever _be alright!!"

"Don't say that." He said firmly.

Sakura was a little taken back by the firmness in his voice, but didn't dare look at him.

"You'll get through this. I know it. Because you are the strongest person I know. And I'll be with you every step of the way. Sakura, you are not weak."

Sakura's eyes widened as more tears leaked out. Some of her pain had been cast aside at hearing this, and had been replaced with a little joy. She never thought that she'd hear those words from Sasuke. The man she used to love. But what did she feel for him now? She thought that she had hated him, but…this is a whole new side of him that she'd never seen before. He was so caring and…sweet. She really liked—no. She loved it.

TBC…

Well whaddaya know! I let some cuss words slip! P horrible habit. Anyhoo…I know the convo was a little short, but the whole point of it was that Sasuke got through to sakura a little. Yay! And sorry that I took forever to update!! Lots of reasons for that. One being writer's block and school. Grr… I'll update soon!


	11. rekindled

Hey my wunnerful viewers! Sorry for the really long update! You wouldn't believe how busy I was! Especially school…GAH! How I hate school. Especially my crazy crack-head math teacher!! I hate her with a passion!! She keeps e-mailing my mom for the stupidest stuff like, "back-talking" or "not turning in work that's been due for over two weeks" and crap like that. But seriously, she's crazy!! There are kids in my class that literally get high on crack, thus causing them to pass out, during the lessons and scream "F you!" from across the room but she won't notice! Yet she'll notice me or my friends whispering to each other! Grr…she aggravates me. But enough of my petty little problems, read the chappie!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. And apparently, I don't own anything including my right to live at the college I want to go to cuz of the whole "you don't have money to pay for the rent" deal my mom keeps dangling over my head!

**Chapter 11:**** Rekindled **

The rain continued to pound forcefully on the glass window of the foreboding hospital room as Sasuke kept rocking Sakura back and forth. He looked down to see what sharp object was jabbing into his lower chest. He noticed that it was a necklace.

With one hand still on her head, his reached his other hand around to entwine the cross in his fingers.

Sakura, sniffling, looked up with tired, dreary eyes to see what Sasuke was fiddling with. But her mint-green eyes widened with shock and quickly turned to seething anger as she snatched the cross from his hand, yank the small gold chain so hard that it broke, and threw it across the room. It roughly hit the opposite wall with a small bang. Sasuke looked at Sakura and observed that her breaths had become ragged; it sounded like she was growling. He looked at the poor wall to see that it had a fairly sized dent where the necklace made contact.

"I hate him…" she murmured scathingly.

Sasuke brushed a loose strand of pink hair from her eyes.

"Sakura.."

Said girl sighed heavily with despair.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay," he said. "Don't be."

"No. It's not…I let her down Sasuke."

"Who?"

"My…mother…" she sniffed. "I wasn't there to help her, and I didn't protect Chihiro like I promised her. I promised her a few years before she…died, that I wouldn't let anything horrible like this happen to her…But I guess promises are made to be broken."

"Chihiro?" Sasuke asked. "Soubi…that bastard." He growled menacingly.

Sakura hiccupped.

"Sasuke," she sighed. "Does it…Does it ever go away?"

"Does what?"

"The…pain. For everything. From the pain of losing my mother and what happened to Chihiro, to—"

She stopped in mid-sentence to blink back unforgiving tears.

"To what happened with Soubi." Sasuke finished quietly.

Sakura blinked.

"…yeah." She said. "But also what happened before my mother's death. I lost someone else."

Sasuke stared at her confusingly. "Who, Sakura?"

She looked up to stare into his beautiful ebony eyes and the young Uchiha felt as if he were mesmerized by her hypnotizing gaze. Even as hot tears poured down her crimson red cheeks.

"You." She choked out.

Sasuke felt his heart stop as he looked at the sobbing figure before him with widened coal eyes.

"Me?" he asked in a broken whisper.

Sakura nodded hesitantly.

"Sasuke…I…I l-l-lo…" she tried to say the words as if they were foreign to her tongue.

"Loved you…" she blushed so heavily saying these strange words that the parting in her pink hair that revealed her pale scalp turned red.

"But now I...I don't know how I feel. I thought I hated you, but…you're not him. You're not the Sasuke I remember, the one I hated."

"Then who am I?" Sasuke asked.

"Uhh.." Sakura grew very nervous.

_'Oh no.__ Don't tell me my old feelings for Sasuke are coming back!' _she thought frantically. _'But…I don't hate him. I thought I did but…whenever I'm around him, I __feel lightheaded. I feel like I can relate to him now. Is that why…?' _

"Oh, Sasuke," she said tearfully as she reached a shaky hand to her eyes to wipe away the falling tears. "Does the pain of all this hell ever go away? Please…tell me."

Sasuke fixated his eyes on Sakura's huge black pupils.

"No," he sighed. "It doesn't. At least not on your own."

_B-bmp! B-bmp! B-bmp!_

Sakura felt as if her face were set on fire. Her heart started to flutter just as fast and fragile as a humming bird's wings, the same affect that Soubi had on her when they first met. She suddenly felt twelve years old again. And before she knew it, her face was dangerously close to Sasuke's…

_BAM! _The door swung open to reveal an irritated Tsunade.

"Sasuke," she said. "Visiting hours are over. Sakura needs her rest."

"Hn." He replied as he sat up from the bed and headed towards the door. Before he left he showed Sakura a smile. His real smile.

Sakura was so close to tears but she didn't want to embarrass herself any further than she already did. But she didn't smile back, much to Sasuke's disappointment as he left.

Tsunade walked over to her broken student and sat in a chair next to her.

"Hey," she said as she reached her hand to caress Sakura's bruised face, both of the women's eyes glistening with tears. "You're gonna be all right, you hear?"

"I don't think so shisou…Me and Chihiro; we'll never be the same again."

"It's true; after what happened, it'd be a miracle if you and your sister were the same again, but you're gonna get through this. I promise." Tsunade said with an assuring smile as she kissed her pink-haired pupil on the forehead.

"You'll start therapy in a few days. Hopefully it'll help."

"I don't need a shrink. I'm not some nut-case!" Sakura protested.

"Sakura listen; you need to get as much help as possible. You are a shinobi; we can't have you distracted by something as…_horrible _as this." She spat the word 'horrible.' "And right now, you need to sleep."

She walked over to the light switch and flipped it downward to where it was now dark.

"If you need anything, just press the nurse assistance button. And don't worry about Chihiro. Shizune is watching her." And with that she closed the door with a small creak and click so that Sakura was engulfed in darkness.

At first, Sakura was a little afraid being able to not see anything. But soon her eyes adjusted to the dark and she was able to see a little more clearly. She looked at her digital clock beside the bed a saw that the green neon numbers shined brightly 11:25 p.m. She suddenly realized how tired she was, and it wasn't long before she fell into a deep sleep.

-

Cold sweat poured from Sakura's brow as she tossed and turned restlessly in her disturbed sleep.

"Uhh…ngh.." she'd murmur from time to time.

"Sakura…" she heard a voice whisper. Her eyes shot open and she immediately sat up in bed.

"Who-Who's there?" she whimpered frightfully.

"Sakura…where are you?" the voice said in a taunting sing-song voice. But it said it in such a way that it petrified Sakura greatly.

But suddenly she felt her fragile heart stop when her eye caught a sight of a shadow behind the hospital curtain that separated the beds. And what was worse, the foreboding shadow was in the shape of a man holding a sinister knife.

Beep…beep…beep. Beep. Beep! Beep! Beep! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! _BEEP!! BEEP!!_

The heart monitor went from a steady rhythm of beeps to a fast, frantic series of all kinds of loud noises.

"I said 'who's there'?!" she demanded nervously.

"Sakura, you sound nervous…" the voice said with sarcastic concern. "Do I frighten you?"

Sakura's breathes grew shallow as if she were drowning. She felt like she couldn't breathe. She tried to scream but when she opened her mouth to do so, she heard nothing. She couldn't even move.

"But Sakura-chan, I thought you were a shinobi." The voice continued with its dark, taunting tone. "Shinobi must never show any emotion…" the man stepped from the curtain to reveal who he was as he sharpened the hunting knife; the same knife that took the life of Sakura's mother.

Sakura gasped sharply out of fear.

"Sou…S-Sou…" she stuttered anxiously.

"Oh look, now you're crying again." He smiled evilly as he reached his hand out towards her throat.

"I remember out in the forest when you called me a disgrace." He said thoughtfully.

He grabbed hold of her and tightened his grip as he held the knife to her throat.

"Who's the disgrace now?!"

It was then that Sakura found her voice.

"TSUNADE!!!!!!!"

The fifth Hokage burst in through the door seconds later. The whole hospital probably heard her scream.

When Tsunade flipped the switch, Sakura opened her eyes to find herself sitting up in bed, but there was no Soubi.

Like a fire hydrant, tears had suddenly burst out from Sakura's eyes.

"He was here!" she cried as Tsunade held her tight. "He tried to…"

"Shizune!" Tsunade yelled for her assistant.

"Yes Milady?" she asked as she entered the room.

"Check the window for any break and enter."

Shizune went to do so as Tsunade turned her attention back to Sakura.

"Tell me what happened."

"He came in…I don't know how." She sniffed. "I woke up when he said my name…and he was gonna slit my throat."

"Tsunade-sama," came the voice of Shizune.

"What?"

"There are no signs of anything. No break and enter; nothing. There was no one here."

TBC…

Sorry if this chapter was really short! It's just that I have this HUGE case of writer's block. Yes, again. And that's why I need some ideas for the next chapter really badly!! Cuz I seriously don't know what to do for the next chapter, so could you guys plz help me out? Pweety pweese? Plz review! And plz send some ideas in your reviews:D thanx


	12. the girl in the photograph

Hello my wunnerful viewers!! Thank u fur the ideas they were really helpful! I was so happy reading them cuz they were really good!!

**Immortalsasuke**your idea is GENIUS!! I love you for it!!

**CullenGirl**interesting idea…I think I'll do that! - thank you!

**Anime-naruto-rox-16: **coolness!! Ur awesome!

I thank you all for your freaking awesome ideas!! Now I finally got over my writer's block! YAYZ! For now at least…course, I can only do so little in a chapter, so some of these ideas might go into chapter thirteen. But I'm still gonna use them! Anyhoo, enough of my babbling, here is chapter 12! XD

Disclaimer: I own nothing..TT.TT except for my DIGNITY!!! Whatever that is...

**Chapter 12: the girl in the photograph**

Sakura had great trouble falling asleep the rest of that night. She wouldn't dare close her eyes after what happened. Was Soubi really there? Or what frightened her even more, was she just seeing things?

The next morning, Tsunade awoke very uncomfortably considering that she was asleep in a chair.

"Ugh…What the heck…?? Could' a sworn that I was in my office...er somthin'…damn sake. My head's killin' me." She mumbled as she rubbed her temples.

Her blurred vision slowly cleared and she saw that she was in Sakura's hospital room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sakura in bed, wide awake but with an exhausted expression. No surprise. She then remembered that Sakura had a fright last night and refused to go back to sleep, so Tsunade stayed with her so she would. But obviously, her attempt was futile.

"So you're awake." Sakura stated.

"Yeah," Tsunade said as she looked at Sakura and quirked an eyebrow. "You are too, I see." She said in a stern voice, obviously aggravated that Sakura didn't go to sleep at all when she should've. "How long?" she asked, though she knew the answer.

Sakura looked at her teacher sheepishly. "Uh, all night."

"I figured as much, but I can't say I blame you."

Sakura turned away from her and brought a limp hand to her lower region where she felt the sharp pain the night before. She wondered if it still hurt.

"You should be fine now." Tsunade said suddenly.

"Huh?" Sakura turned to looked at her puzzlingly.

"The first few hours you were here, I did some work on you. But the treatment wouldn't take effect until after several more hours, so you should be fine now." She explained with a smile.

Sakura nodded in reply.

"Does that mean I can leave now?" she asked impatiently.

Tsunade was a little unsure about letting her out so early. But Sakura was an almost as fast a healer as Naruto, and Tsunade knew how much she hated being cooped up, especially in hospitals. But although her physical wounds might've made a fast recovery, her emotional wounds might never come remotely close to it. That is why Tsunade had decided to put her through therapy.

Tsunade sighed. "Fine. You're free to go. But you're still gonna have to go to therapy."

"But shisou!" Sakura protested. "I don't have time for therapy! I have work! Not to mention, missions! I'll be fine without it, honest."

"No, Sakura." Tsunade said firmly. "I know this is hard for you, but the best thing for you right now is to get some help."

"I don't _need _help!!" Sakura barked as she slammed her fist against the bedside table, leaving a huge dent.

The godaime blinked. Sakura had _never, _not even _dared, _talk to her like that.

"Sakura," she said as calmly as possible. "This is why you need therapy. For a while now, you've had this turmoil inside you."

"What turmoil?!" the pink-haired girl demanded.

"It started when Sasuke left the village and left you with a broken heart. And it grew more when you discovered your mother' s body and more still when Chihiro told you what was happening between her and Soubi. And now that Soubi has done this to you, your growing anger is too much for your body to handle. "

"Wha-What do you mean…too much for my body to handle?" Sakura asked, her voice growing a little quieter. Hearing this had caught her attention so she was finally starting to calm down.

"Well, let's compare you with Naruto. See, his kyuubi is so powerful that it puts a strain on his small vessel of a body and can't always hold in all that power. That's why sometimes it slips out. It's exactly the same way with your anger. Like just now, when you became aggravated that I insisted that you go to therapy, you raised your voice at me and slammed your fist against that table. You have _never _done that before and frankly, it's starting to worry me."

Sakura scowled. She knew there was no getting out of this one. Tsunade had made up her mind.

"Guess I have no choice, huh?"

"You start therapy tomorrow at noon." Tsunade patted Sakura on the knee and headed for the door. "You're free to go anytime."

"W-Wait!" Sakura called before her teacher could make it halfway out the door.

"Yes?" she turned her head to the side to look at Sakura.

"Um…" Sakura hated the fact that a tinge of red was spreading across her cheekbones because of the embarrassment of asking, but she had to ask.

"Uh, shisou?" she started fidgeting with her fingers like Hinata. "D-Do you think that Chihiro and I could possibly, maybe live with you for a bit? Just until I get over my fear of living alone?"

She looked up and used her own original special jutsu on Tsunade: Cute-Puppy-Dog-Eyes-no-Jutsu!

Sakura's eyes went completely mint-green as they went all round, wide and teary like one of those cute pound puppies. **(A/N: of course, it wasn't an actual jutsu. She was just being cute!! XD)**

"Nice try." Tsunade said with a smirk.

Sakura lowered her head in defeat.

"Sakura, I'm the Hokage; I'm too busy right now. I know you can take care of yourself, but what about your sister? I can't keep up with her every time you go off on a mission; I have things to take care of and that doesn't include Chihiro."

"Oh. Okay." She whispered.

"But," she continued. "I am allowing you to live with someone else for your safety."

Sakura's head shot up and her face seemed to sparkle. But it was kinda weird since she wasn't even smiling.

"Really??" she asked. "Oh, thank you shisou! I'll go pack my things and head for Ino's right now!"

She gracefully hopped out of bed, miraculously without any pain, grabbed her clothes and headed for the door. But before she could make it a foot out of the foreboding room, Tsunade suddenly placed her hand on Sakura's large forehead, thus stopping her from going any further. (Course, it wasn't that large now since she's older. She's grown into it a little.)

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tsunade chuckled. "I didn't say 'Ino'."

Sakura blinked repeatedly, her mind trying to take in what her teacher had said.

"Well, if not Ino then who? Who do you want me to live with?"

-

"HEY SASUKE!!!"

Said boy turned to see the person he wasn't really in the mood to see at the moment, nor did he have the energy.

"What Naruto?" he asked coldly.

Naruto came running down the street furiously towards the irritated Uchiha.

"Where the heck were you last night?! Do you realize that if Tsunade-baa-chan found out that you were roaming around the village by yourself, she would have my head?!?!"

"Relax dobe. I didn't do anything. I was just taking a walk; thinking things over." Sasuke replied nonchalantly.

Naruto smirked devilishly.

_"Ohh…_I getcha." He said as he nudged Sasuke's ribs with his elbow.

"What?"

"You were thinking certain things about _Sakura _huh?"

To Naruto's surprise, Sasuke didn't blush or try to protest like he usually did, but instead glared daggers through him.

"Wh-What?" Naruto asked as his smile quickly faded away.

"You idiot," Sasuke growled. "Have you already forgotten what happened to her?!"

Immediately, Naruto lowered his head shamefully.

"I will _not _stand to hear you talk that way about her!!" he yelled. He started to raise his fist back to punch the crap out of Naruto, but he couldn't. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't bring himself to give Naruto the beating he deserves for disrespecting Sakura.

"For your information, I was thinking about how to kill Soubi. I can't take a direct approach, assuming that he's a fellow shinobi. There's no other explanation to how he got away so easily. And judging by the footprints we saw the other day, he jumped from his window. No regular person can do that and live." Sasuke explained, his deep and usually sexy voice shaking with anger.

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered. "You…really love her, don't you?"

Sasuke's ebony eyes widened as he blinked repeatedly.

"Uhh…" he sighed. "I…I care about her."

Naruto looked up and stared confusingly into the black diamonds that belonged to Sasuke.

"But Sasuke," he said. "I thought she was gonna help you with the restoration of your clan."

The young Uchiha raised an eyebrow. "Sh-She is. What are you talking about?"

"But you don't love her. Y-You would've said you loved her if you did! But you just said you cared about her!"

"So what? What does that have to do with anything?"

Naruto blinked and slowly his wide blue eyes formed into a glare.

"Sasuke," he growled. "Are you saying that you're just _using _her?! Caring about her isn't enough!! To want to go to such a level with Sakura, you have to love her!!"

"But Naruto—"

"You just don't get it do you?! Sakura heart is broken, Sasuke. She needs someone to fix it! You say you care about her, well don't you care about how she feels about you? Or how she's gonna feel when she realizes that you don't love her even when…" Naruto couldn't go on.

"Naruto, I didn't ask her yet."

"But you were going to."

Sasuke searched his mind desperately for a decent reply, but he couldn't find one. He looked away.

"Face it Sasuke: you don't love her. You don't even care about her. Not even after what happened to her!! You only care about getting your way! You don't care about anyone else!!" Naruto yelled. "You have no right to yell at me for 'disrespecting her'! You're the one who's really disrespecting her!!"

Sasuke glared at the blonde ninja.

"I don't have time for this. Just stay out of my business!" he yelled back before he started to walk off in an angry huff.

Furiously, Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets. But suddenly he felt something and pulled his hands out to see he was holding a photo. He remembered that it was the picture he picked up when they were looking for Sakura but he hadn't had a chance to look at it. He didn't think much of it at first except disgust, but when he flipped it over to the back and saw the date, his eyes widened in horror.

"Sasuke!!! Come here!!!" he yelled. Luckily the Uchiha hadn't gone far.

But he just ignored him and kept walking. Frustrated, Naruto ran to catch up with him.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Look at this picture!!"

"Arrgh!! What?! What about it?!"

"Look! Look who's in it!!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at the people in the photo.

Sasuke scowled. "So what? It's just Sakura with…_Soubi." _He spat.

"No, no, no, no! This-This isn't Sakura!" the hyperactive blonde spazzed.

"What??"

Sasuke examined the picture closer to see whatever Naruto was seeing. But all he saw was Sakura. Same short pink hair, same emerald green eyes…the only thing different between the Sakura in the picture and the Sakura in the present condition was that in the photo she was smiling. A beautiful, fervent smile that Sasuke's heart ached so painfully to see again.

"All I see is Sakura, Naruto." He replied. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Check the back. There's a date and names." Naruto said nervously.

Sasuke flipped the photograph over to see the white blank side with nothing on it but small letters written in black ink, the handwriting cursive. Sasuke's onyx orbs widened with the concept of beyond disbelief.

_"Soubi and Akiko-__1998__"_

"This photograph was taken ten years ago…" Sasuke murmured. "She was eight then."

"Then who's this girl?" Naruto asked no one in particular. "I mean, that does NOT look like an eight year old!"

"I don't know," Sasuke answered anyway. He flipped over the picture again to examine the girl, and to his horror, he saw that she was wearing the same necklace as Sakura wore.

"But I know how we can find out." He said.

"How?" Naruto asked.

"Go get Neji and Shikamaru. I'll explain on the way."

-

Chihiro glumly packed her clothes and personal items into her small pink duffel bag as she gave Sakura a dejected glance.

"What?" Sakura asked when she saw her sister's pitiful stare.

"Why do we have to go live with _him?" _she asked as she scrunched up her nose in disgust at the thought of the person she was referring to.

"Tsunade's orders; she believes that he'll be the best person to protect us from any danger."

"But you're one of the strongest kunoichi! You can protect us!" the small blonde protested.

Sakura had to fight back traitor tears hearing her sister say these words. She thought she was the strongest kunoichi too, but after recent events, she was starting to reconsider.

"Well, uh, I'm not fully healed yet," Sakura halfway lied. "That's why Tsunade said to go live with him, just until I make a full recovery. M'kay?"

Chihiro stuck out her bottom lip to pout, but she nodded in response.

-

_CRASH!! _

Soubi's apartment door fell in the room after Sasuke kicked it down with blinding infuriation. Immediately, the four males stealthily entered the room, hiding in places like behind corners of a hall or crouched beside a table for a fraction of a second before quickly moving somewhere else to stay out of sight. Naruto was serious about the situation but was having a blast hiding in different places. He rolled and dived from one place to another, positioning his hands to look like a gun as if he was in Charlie's Angels. Sasuke glared at the idiotic kyuubi vessel.

"What the hell are you doing you dobe?!" he hissed in an irritated whisper.

"Just, uh…trying to lighten up the mood." Naruto replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well would you do us all a favor and stop playing Charlie's Angels?!" Sasuke hissed again.

"Okay, okay." Naruto mumbled. "Jeez, teme."

When the boys started to move again, Naruto came out of his hiding spot, which was behind the couch, pressed his body against the wall and started sliding along it slowly while humming the James Bond theme song.

"Dun, dun, dun-dun duh dun, dun-dun—"

An anime vein popped out of the back of Sasuke's head and he spun around to face Naruto.

"No James Bond either!" he scolded.

"Aww…" Naruto pouted as he sulked.

"Hey, what exactly are we looking for anyway?" Neji asked.

"Anything on Soubi that could help us learn more about him or help us find him." Sasuke replied stoically.

Shikamaru sighed. "This is so troublesome." But then something caught his brown eyes.

"Huh? What's this?"

TBC…

Sorry if this chapter is short. I'm gonna try to make the next chapters longer. But I won't do it unless you review!!! And it's the only way to find out what happens next!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Chihiro: will you shut up?!?! (whacks me on the head with her fist)

Me: OW! (sniffs) Chihiro-chan…(rubs sore head) dang…you are really like your sister.

Sakura and Chihiro: damn straight! CHA! XD


	13. shika's dicovery and new roomates!

Oh my gosh guys, I'm so so so so SO sorry!! I know that it took me absolutely FOREVER to update this chapter! plz don't hurt me! . see, my laptop is completely messed up so I couldn't type on it. But I had managed to get about half of the chapter typed on it before it screwed up so now I'm having to re-type it onto my dial up computer. This has happened before and it's really frustrating so plz cut me some slack! And again, I'm really sorry! Anyhoo, here's the next chappy!! 

Disclaimer: if I had three wishes the first would be to own Naruto…then world domination, then a pet monkey.

**Chapter 13: shika's discovery and new roommates!**

Shikamaru leaned over and hesitantly picked up a small black book of some kind. He turned it over on its side and back to examine it before opening it. He scanned and flipped through the pages to see that it had a girl's handwriting inside.

"Hey guys, take a look at this." He called.

"What'd you find?" Sasuke asked as they walked over to Shikamaru.

"Looks like a diary of some sort." He answered lazily. "It's got a girl's handwriting inside."

"REALLY?! SWEET! LET'S READ IT!!" Naruto shouted in excitement. "Maybe it's got some mushy stuff in there about some guy!" He grinned goofily before being smacked across the head by three closed fists.

"Could you be any more immature?" Neji said stoically. "I don't know what my cousin sees in you."

"Owie…" Naruto whined as he caressed the massive bump on his head.

"Hey, look at this. It's Akiko's handwriting." Shikamaru pointed out.

"How can you tell?" Sasuke asked.

"Because on the first page it says, "this diary belongs to Akiko Koji." The lazy nin replied in a bored tone.

"Oh." Sasuke sweatdropped.

"So…are you guys gonna read it?" Naruto asked hesitantly, fretting about another possible strike across the head.

"Yeah. Maybe it'll help us find out something." Sasuke replied nonchalantly. "I dunno…I just have a feeling."

"Well in that case, _you _should take it." Shikamaru said as he shoved the diary into Sasuke's hands.

"Why me?"

"Cuz I don't partake in reading a girl's personal stuff," he said. "I learned that the hard way with Ino."

"What about you Neji?" Sasuke asked as he turned to the lavender-eyed man.

"Nah. Might have something in there that will permanently scar my mind." He grimaced slightly. "I've already suffered enough from _Hinata's _diary." He looked over at Naruto and suddenly retched.

Sasuke sighed heavily. "Fine. I guess I'll take it home and read it."

"W-wait! What about me?! I'll happily read it!!" Naruto shouted.

"Yeah, right. Let's let _you _read it," Sasuke said sarcastically. "I'm sure with your _mature _outlook on things it should be no problem."

"Glad you see it my way teme." Naruto beamed, completely oblivious.

Sasuke shook his head and started for the door.

"W-wait, aren't you gonna give me the diary? Sasuke?"

Neji roughly slapped the back of Naruto's head with a loud "SMACK!"

"Aside from being an immature moron, you're also completely oblivious to sarcasm."

"What the heck is with everyone smacking me across the head?!?!"

"Just be quiet dobe. Someone will hear you." Sasuke hissed. "C'mon guys. Let's get out of here."

They all walked out of the now door-less room except Naruto, who stayed behind when a shiny abject caught the corner of his blue eye.

"Hey! A tape recorder!" he exclaimed as he picked it up and examined it with enthusiasm.

"Naruto! Hurry up!"

"Right behind you Sasuke!"

Naruto rolled and dived behind various pieces of furniture towards the doorway with his "hand" gun, humming the Mission Impossible theme song.

"NO MISSION IMPOSSIBLE EITHER!!!!" Sasuke yelled from the hallway.

"Aww…" Naruto sulked.

-

"Well where the heck is he?!" Chihiro whined.

"Chihiro, just be patient." Sakura assured stoically.

"But we've been standing out here for _hours!"_

"It's only been five minutes."

Sakura and her sister were standing outside the house they were going to be staying at, waiting for the owner to arrive. The house was really beautiful. It was tow-stories and white with a huge patio. The patio had a bench swing on the right side and the second story had a balcony, but it more like a porch. And from the looks of things, the house had been empty for years.

"Hey Onee-chan! There he is!" Chihiro pointed at the man eagerly. She wasn't eager to see the man himself, but rather eager to get inside and stop standing around.

When the man came up to his house for the first time in years, he stopped daydreaming as he noticed the two girls standing outside his door with duffel bags.

"Sakura? What are you two doing out here?"

Said girl sighed heavily. "Hello Sasuke," she said coolly.

-

"So, Tsunade said for you to live with me?" Sasuke asked as he sat on a couch beside Sakura.

It was 7 p.m. and Chihiro and Sakura had already unpacked after Sasuke had shown them their room, which was on the second floor. Sakura's green eyes sparkled with amazement and adoration when she had first opened the bedroom door. It was like a five star hotel suite; it was so big and beautiful. The wallpaper was a light blue color, which she liked especially because it made her feel tranquil. In one corner was a working desk and the walls were lined with book selves filled with old ninja books and scrolls. A chandelier hung in the center of the ceiling and the bed sheets matched the wallpaper. But what Sakura truly liked the most of the room was that the first wall you looked at when you enter the room, wasn't a wall at all, but a sliding glass door which she could open to walk on the balcony; it was decorated to look like a beautiful porch.

"Yeah, for our safety. But I don't think I need safety. I can take care of Chihiro and myself. After all, that's what I've been doing for the past six years." She replied arrogantly. Sakura was too proud to admit that she was overjoyed to be staying with Sasuke because she was afraid to live alone.

"Oh, well that's…good to know." Sasuke said hesitantly. He was rather disappointed to hear Sakura say this. Even though it was a lot of trouble and sometimes an annoying burden, he always sort of…_liked _protecting her. But like Sakura, he was far too proud to ever admit it.

"So it looks like you're my new 24/7 bodyguard." Sakura said nonchalantly.

"Wait, wouldn't that make us each other's bodyguards, or something?" the raven-haired teen asked as he scratched his head.

"Um…I guess. Man, that's confusing!" she exclaimed.

"Sisa," Chihiro called from upstairs. "I'm going to bed. I'm really tired for some reason."

"Alright." Sakura called back.

Sasuke took advantage of this opportunity to start a conversation.

"So, uh… Chihiro, she's a nice kid." He said unsurely.

Sakura gave him a puzzled expression. "Uh, yeah. She is."

"Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp." Came the sound of crickets outside in the darkness.

"So…what are your plans for tomorrow?" Sasuke asked.

"…"

Sakura remained motionless for several minutes without a single word. The only sound that could be heard was the soft chirping of crickets and the loud ticking of Sasuke's watch.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" he asked as he reached his hand out to her shoulder.

"I have therapy tomorrow." She said bluntly and gloomily before Sasuke could touch her.

The young Uchiha blinked. " 'Therapy'?" he echoed.

Sakura looked down at her trivial hands that were folded in her lap and nodded in lull. "Tsunade's orders." She whispered dejectedly.

Both shinobi went through another five minutes of uncomfortable and awkward silence. Sasuke could hear Sakura quietly sniffling and trying her best to swallow back a sob as she started to twiddle her fingers in an unwieldy manner.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered. "I—"

"I miss Kakashi…" she whimpered quietly, but he was able to hear.

"Kakashi?"

"The last time I saw him was over a month ago. I miss him so much…"

Sasuke felt as if his heart had been torn apart. _'Sakura must've felt this way when I left…No. What I feel is nothing close compared to how she felt that night.' _

"He was always sort of a father figure to me," Sakura continued. "And right now…I really need my dad."

As soon as the words had left her lips she broke out into a series of whist sobs. Sakura buried her face into her hands in attempt to muffle her already mute cries, but she also did it to hide her gaze from Sasuke's, who immediately embraced her in a protective hug.

"Please," she whimpered against him. "Please…" She wondered if he knew that the word she pitifully uttered was going in two different directions.

"It's okay Sakura," Sasuke breathed in her ear. "You're safe; he can't get to you."

"Sasuke…I saw him last night." The young kunoichi whispered frightfully.

Sasuke's ebony eyes widened as he stared at her in shock. "What?"

"Only…he wasn't really there."

"So you were dreaming?"

"No…well, I don't know." She responded tearfully. "Sasuke…am I crazy?"

He hugged her tighter and nuzzled her pink hair.

"No. And I will never believe that."

Sakura relaxed a little as she wrapped her arms around Sasuke and buried her face into his toned chest. Slowly, in the warm embrace of Sasuke, she fell into a deep, pleasant sleep. Something that she hadn't had in a long time.

Sasuke gently lifted her up bridal style and carried her up the stairs. He was a little shocked; she was a lot lighter than she looked. The raven-haired Uchiha looked down at her angelic face and blushed heavily as she snuggled closer to him. But he had to restrain himself from laughing as to not wake her up when he suddenly heard her silently and very cutely snore.

'_It must've been a while since she's had a decent sleep,' _Sasuke thought. _'I wonder why she feels so comfortable sleeping now…Is it…me?'_ he roughly shook his head. _'No way. I must be crazier than I thought.' _

To his relief, when he reached the top of the stairs and Sakura's bedroom, Chihiro had left the door wide open. It would've been difficult for Sasuke to open it while having his hands full with Sakura. He walked in to find Chihiro already sound asleep in the bed and the lamp on the bedside table shining brightly. He laid Sakura's sleeping form beside Chihiro, pulled the covers over her and turned off the light.

"Goodnight Sakura." He whispered before closing the door behind him.

-

_B-bmp…b-bmp…b-bmp! B-bmp! B-bmp! B-bmp!! B-bmp!!_

Sakura's heart was pounding like crazy as she tossed and turned fearfully in her restless sleep.

"No…s-stop. Stop it! … GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" she screamed.

"Sisa wake up!!"

Sakura's green eyes immediately shot open at the sound of Chihiro's frightened, timid voice. She found herself gasping for breath and hot beads of sweat pouring down her brow. She turned to her right to see her younger sister's face streaked with tears. As she sat up she noticed tears in her eyes also when they streamed down her own face.

"Sakura! What happened?!" Sasuke yelled as he burst into the room. He flipped the switch to see everything normal, except for the two crying girls.

"Uh, nothing…" Sakura said shakily as she wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. "I just…had a nightmare."

"Do you…wanna talk about it?" Sasuke asked innocently.

"N-No. I don't."

"…Are you sure?"

"Yes Sasuke!! I'm sure!!" Sakura yelled.

Sasuke blinked repeatedly before turning his attention towards the hardwood floor. He knew that he shouldn't have pushed her about it. He knew better.

"Sorry…well, goodnight." He said stoically as he closed the door. And he knew that tomorrow was not going to be any easier.

TBC…

Sorry if this chapter's a little short… -.-' and sorry that it took me absolutely 4ever to update!! . I'm gonna try to pick up the pace and update a lot faster like I used to do. Anyhooz, be on the lookout for chapter 14! It's gonna get a lot more interesting! Until then, bye byez for now!


	14. dark memories

(exasperated sigh!) I am so so so so so so very very very very really really really really really so extremely to the max sorry! I had no idea that I would take this long to update! It's just that I'm on a varsity softball team and I have practice every day till April (and that includes spring break) and I had a tournament 2 weekends in a row so yeah it took up a lot of my time! -.-; so sorry! Anyhoo, I'm just gonna give u a heads up, I probably won't be updating as fast as I want to, so it'll take me a little longer than I planned to write this story. But fear not! I shall update no matter what! And yes, there will be lemon.

Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto, then sakura wouldn't be a useless little weakling in the first season. Cuz that really pissed me off! She's making us girls look bad! At least she got stronger in shippuuden - yayz!

Chapter 14: dark memories

The next morning Sakura woke up late, feeling like she'd been punched in the stomach and knocked out with chloroform. She had a head-splitting migraine and a sick, churning feeling in the pit of her stomach as if she were to vomit any minute. Sakura looked around the room to see that it was not her own. But then she remembered that she was staying at Sasuke's. She grimaced at the thought. Her gaze shifted over to her right to find Chihiro nowhere to be found. This newfound discovery had Sakura's adrenaline flowing throughout her body and no longer did the drowsiness take her over.

Sakura pushed the heavy covers off of her body and swung her long legs around the side of the bed, shivering as she let her warm, tender feet touch the cold, soft surface of the carpet. She clumsily staggered up and steadied herself as she leaned against the dresser, waiting a minute for the numbness in her legs to fade. It wasn't long before she started to get some feeling into her legs again and bounded out the door and down the stairs, almost tripping in the process. She ran into the kitchen to find Chihiro at the table eating pancakes.

"Morning Sisa!" she said cheerfully. "Who knew that Sasuke could cook, huh?"

Sakura felt the heat rising in her cheeks as she sighed in relief. She was becoming way overprotective and anxious about everything, but she had the right to be.

"So," Sakura said slowly without so much as a "Good morning". "Where's Sasuke?"

"In the den. He's reading some little book or whatever."

Sakura nodded gratefully to her sister and calmly strolled out of the kitchen. Sasuke was sitting rigidly in a recliner, cautiously studying the small black book that rested eerily on the coffee table in front of him. He had a somewhat, dreaded feeling about reading it. Perhaps it was because of the fact that he'd never read some strange girl's diary before. Or maybe it was because he somehow knew that whatever secrets were hidden within the pages of that book, he'd really rather not know about them.

"Yo."

Sasuke jumped at the unexpected sight of Sakura's face two inches from his, looking at him from upside down. She straightened up and walked around from behind the recliner to get a better look at Sasuke.

"So…I didn't know the Great Uchiha Prodigy was so jumpy in the morning." She sneered.

Sasuke growled under his breath. "You just caught me off guard is all."

"Oh, I'm so sure _that's_ it."

"Whatever. What do you want?"

Sakura blinked and paused for about a minute before answering. She really didn't know what it is that she wanted from him. She just had an urge to see him. Perhaps _talk _to him…to hear his…_sexy _voice.. She could feel the pink flushing over her cheekbones thinking these things.

"Do you want to talk about something?" Sasuke asked, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts.

"…Uh.. I…" She paused. "I guess…" she replied timidly.

Sasuke sighed as he stood from the recliner and walked over to the couch. He sat on one end and motioned Sakura to come sit. She hesitantly and very shyly obliged.

"Why are you sitting all the way over there?" he asked, noticing that she was sitting as far away from him as the couch would allow her.

She did not reply.

"Sakura?"

Said girl sighed heavily. "Sasuke…why are you being nice to me?"

The young Uchiha raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What?"

"Is it because you pity me? Is that it?"

Before he could answer, the clock that hung over the fireplace chimed 11:30. Sakura sighed heavily and immediately stood up from her seat on the couch. She turned her head only enough to get a small glimpse of the young man's face.

"I have to get ready." She said stoically. "Forget I said anything." Then she turned her back completely to him and walked out of the room at a brief pace.

Sasuke stared after her in confusion. And somehow…_admiration. _He just couldn't get over how strong she was being about everything. But he also knew that it wasn't that. He knew that no matter how cold or strong she was on the outside, inside she was slowly dying. Ever since that night that he left, she had been dying inside. He didn't know how much more she could take. That's why he was worried about her going to this therapy; he was afraid that this would finally send her over the edge.

Sakura stepped into the shower, soaking her pink hair completely in the rushing hot water. She closed her eyes and drew her head closer into the water, letting it pour onto her face as well. But suddenly her eyes shot open at the sound of the bathroom door slowly opening with a _cre-e-a-ak._

"Who's there?" she demanded.

"Oh, Sisa. I…didn't know anyone was in here." Chihiro said timidly.

Sakura's dripping pink hair clung to her face as she poked her head out from behind the shower curtain to see Chihiro halfway in the doorway.

"What is it? You need something?" Sakura asked.

"Uh..uhmm…" Chihiro turned a light shade of pink. She was a little embarrassed for walking in on her sister like this. "I-It's okay. I'll come back later." She stammered before she closed the door and scurried off.

Sakura cocked her head in confusion; Chihiro was acting weirder than usual, but she couldn't really blame her. She shrugged it off and got back to her shower.

Later, Sakura was back in her room, standing in front of the open closet. Out of the several articles of clothing she brought, she chose to wear a long sleeved white shirt with a short-sleeved red T-shirt, with a sakura petals print on it, on top of it, denim capris that were a little baggy in the legs with pockets on the sides, and regular sneakers. (A/N: she was feeling a little tomboy-ish today. But all in all, it's still a pretty cute outfit. Trust me, I've worn it! XD)

By the time Sakura was ready it was already 2:00. She was to meet with the therapist at 3:00. She decided that she would take a slow, relaxing walk to the therapist's office so that by the time she got there, she'd be on time for her appointment. She walked downstairs into the living room to find Sasuke still sitting in the recliner watching the small book, leaning over and folding his hands in front of his face, his elbows supported by his knees. To Sakura he resembled a hungry puma watching it's prey, getting ready to pounce. But as she fully stepped into the room her presence snapped the Uchiha out of his concentration, and he blinked repeatedly at the sight of her. There was something about the way the sun shined through the window and onto her face that made her look so…_different. _Beautiful was the very first word that came to Sasuke's mind.

"Umm…Something wrong?" Sakura asked, afraid that if she somehow looked tacky.

"Uh, no. Nothing's wrong." He said in monotone.

Sakura turned her gaze away from him as her eyes fell to the floor. "Okay…I guess I'll see you later then." She murmured. Sasuke nodded as she walked towards the door. But a sudden small voice stopped her.

"Wait! Sakura!" Chihiro called as she flew down the stairs. She trotted over in front of Sakura. "Can I go with you?"

Crap. She had forgotten all about Chihiro. _Of course _she'd want to go with her. But there was no way she was gonna take her with her to the therapist. She knew that she'd have to tell them things that Chihiro was not ready to hear; it'd ruin her even more.

"Uh, don't you wanna stay here with Sasuke-chan?" she attempted pathetically. She even added "chan" to his name to try to convince Chihiro, who gave her a blank yet annoyed look. "Maybe spend some…_quality time _together?" Sasuke stifled a laugh hearing Sakura's pitiful attempts. Sakura sighed in defeat. "I'll drop you off at Ino's." Chihiro shrugged but nodded. For her, anything was better than having to stay with Sasuke by herself.

"Hello Sakura. I'm Dr. Izawa. But you can call me Rikko." Said Sakura's therapist in a gentle voice. She was more beautiful than Sakura expected. She had light brown hair that reached below her shoulders, bright hazel eyes, and looked to be around her mid twenties. She motioned Sakura to sit in a cushioned chair across from her, between them a coffee table with two cups of tea sitting upon it. Sakura sat down and looked around the room. It was nothing special. Just a normal office. Then why did she feel so at peace there?

"So how was the walk up here?" Rikko asked with a kind smile.

"Fine." Sakura replied plainly.

"No trouble at all?"

"Nope."

"That's good. Well, listen Sakura, Tsunade informed me that you have had some horrible nightmares so I'm going to ask you some pretty simple questions and you just answer as honestly as possible, and maybe we can find a way to put a stop to those nightmares. But if it gets too uncomfortable then just let me know and I'll stop. Okay?" Rikko flashed her kind smile again. It wasn't too cheery and it wasn't a forced smile, it was just a regular _happy_ smile. The kind of smile Sakura wished she had again.

"Kay." It was painfully obvious that Sakura did not want to be there at the moment. Or at all for that matter.

"But Sakura I must warn you: this is your first day so I won't ask anything that'll make you feel uncomfortable, but when you've been coming here for a while, I'll be asking some personal questions. All right?"

Sakura nodded.

"Now, what was his name?"

Sakura blinked and stared at the woman for a moment. The question was so random it nearly threw her off. But as her mind started to take it in she realized that the question wasn't all that random. She shifted rigidly in her seat.

"…S-Soubi.." she stuttered hesitantly.

After a week of going to visit Rikko, more and more Sakura became antsy about the questions she warned her about. What if she had to explain the whole scene to her in graphic detail? That was what Sakura feared the most. She wouldn't be able to go through with it; it was too humiliating. She'd die of embarrassment. Everyday the questions were getting more personal. Mostly about Sakura meeting Soubi and Chihiro's incident.

'_Surely not,' _Sakura told herself. _'Maybe by "personal" she meant "what kind of relationship" or something…' _Whatever the therapist meant, she was about to find out as she rounded the corner on the street and into Rikko's office. As the pink-haired girl walked into the office, she was immediately greeted by a bright smile.

"Hello Sakura." Rikko said cheerfully.

"Hey Rikko…" She said unsurely, nervous about today's appointment. Her tension showed from the way she sat in the seat and didn't look Rikko in the eye.

"Sakura, I'm just gonna get right to it," Rikko said as her smile faded and her expression grew serious. "I'm gonna be asking you about the actual…moment that it happened." Her velvety voice was shaky with awkwardness.

Sakura swallowed hard; she was afraid that this would happen. But finally she managed to choke out:

"Uh, okay…" she said quietly in a small, timid voice.

"Well, first off, you explained to me that he had been…mistreating Chihiro. What was your reaction?"

"…" Sakura picked a spot at the table between them and stared at it; she could not dare to look at Rikko while telling her this. "I was angry." She replied. "I wanted to kill him.."

"Kill him?"

She nodded slowly in response. "My friend, Ino, warned me not to go after him, but I was too stubborn. I didn't listen."

"So you went to his apartment?" the brown-haired woman asked.

"Yes. And there was where he confessed with _pride _that he had been _hurting my sister."_ The kunoichi growled through her clenched teeth.

Rikko gazed upon the young girl with sympathy. She could actually feel the pain radiating off of her and into the room. She set down her notes on the coffee table, took her glasses off the bridge of her nose, and placed them atop of her head, showing Sakura that she was listening very carefully to her story.

"He took off," she continued with a sigh. "And of course, I followed. I guess I was too blinded by anger to think rationally."

There was a long pause.

"Go on." Rikko said gently, breaking the silence.

"I was asking him why he did it…he said that he couldn't resist her. And that's when I tried to…But he somehow stopped me, started draining me of my chakra. And then he started to…" her voice trailed off.

"That was when he started to get forceful?" Rikko asked.

Sakura bit her lower lip in thought. "Actually…no. He pushed me to the ground, but it wasn't forceful. It was more like…gentle.

"What else?"

Sakura blinked back tears. "He told me…that he was the one who killed my mom." She said, her soft voice now breaking. "He said he did it to get to me. He planned it all from the beginning…"

Rikko sighed. "Sakura," she said. "Why do you think Soubi would do such a thing?"

A long pause followed after Sakura's long sigh of dejection. "I slapped him." She continued, ignoring Rikko's question. "It was the only thing I could think of to do…and he snapped. He became angry…he explained to me that he planned on making love to me, but…because of my ignorance, he'd have to take me by force. He thrashed me, cut me, and beat me senselessly…and shouted horrible things.." Sakura let a small sob escape her lips as a dark blush appeared on her face.

"That's when he…?" Rikko questioned.

The pink-haired girl nodded in lull.

"Sakura did he say anything else to you that might give us a clue to where he's at?" Sakura sat in her seat in dead silence, refusing to answer. She couldn't take any more questions. "Sakura I know this is hard for you, believe me. But you must tell us everything so we can have a chance at finding Soub—"

"The only other things he said to me were things like, 'Stop crying bitch, you know you want it.' " Sakura said in frustration, her voice rising. "I don't know where he is." She growled through clenched teeth.

Rikko sighed; she knew that there was nothing Soubi said to her to give them any clue to where he was. Sakura roughly stood from her seat and headed for the door, seeing that their time was up anyway. Rikko made no effort to stop her. Sakura turned to her as her hand barely stroked the doorknob.

"There _is _one more thing," She said angrily. "When I was in the hospital I saw him come up to me in the middle of the night. But when Tsunade and Shizune checked the place out they said that there were no signs whatsoever that anyone was there. Apparently it was all the more reason to Tsunade to send me to this pointless therapy!" she yelled before she flung the door open and roughly slammed it shut behind her.

Chihiro was sitting on the other side of the living room, across from Sasuke, watching him and wondering why on earth he was staring at that book. She decided that she could handle being with Sasuke by herself for a day; she figured he wasn't that weird. But this just about proved her wrong.

"Umm, what are you doing?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Sasuke quickly glanced up at her with surprise. He had forgotten she was there. "Uh, just…thinking." He said hesitantly, trying to think of the best answer.

" 'Bout what?" she asked innocently.

"Don't you have homework to do or something?" Sasuke asked, growing a little annoyed.

"It's summer." She replied in a more annoyed tone than Sasuke's. "Don't _you _have some mission to go on? Oh, I forgot. You. Can't." she said the last few words slowly and stuck her tongue out mockingly.

Sasuke grew furious. "Is there something you want?! Why are you asking me all these questions?!"

"_You're _the one asking questions dummy."

"That's not the point!" Sasuke replied angrily as he stood from his seat.

"IS THERE A PROBLEM HERE?!" Sasuke and Chihiro turned to see Sakura standing in the doorway, scathingly glaring holes through the young Uchiha. "Is there somehow a reasonable explanation as to _why _you are yelling at my sister?" she demanded as she walked over to him. He was a head taller than her so she had to stand on her tiptoes to try remain eye level with him. Sasuke stared down at her with a calm unemotional expression.

"Your sister is annoying. See to it that she has something else to do than bug me." he ordered. "You know, she's more like you than you think." He smirked arrogantly. But he soon came to regret it when Sakura started glaring at him with a blazing fire in her eyes.

"Chihiro," she growled. "You might wanna go upstairs to your room. This is gonna get ugly."

"Whoa, whoa! Just calm down Onee-chan!" the blonde girl exclaimed. "Don't hurt him!"

Sakura closed her eyes and drew in a long shaky breath, trying to control her anger. She opened them again to be faced with Sasuke's chest, covered by the black material of his tight T-shirt. She blinked in confusion when she felt the heat rising to her cheeks.

"It's alright Onee-chan," Chihiro continued. "He's just being his regular asshole self is all."

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Sakura quickly turned away from Sasuke, raised her hand and popped Chihiro in the mouth. It wasn't enough to make her cry, but it did throw her off guard. _Way _off. Her green eyes widened in dismay as she slowly brought her own hand to where her sister had faintly smacked her.

"You better watch your mouth." Sakura growled. "Now, I thought I said to go to your room. But not before you apologize to Sasuke."

Chihiro let a small gasp escape her lips. "Sakura…Are you taking up for him?!"

"I won't tolerate this sort of language from you. Apologize. NOW!" Sakura demanded.

Chihiro just looked at her blankly. Then glared at Sasuke and turned back to glare at Sakura. She swiftly turned her head and ran up the stairs without a single word.

Later that evening, Sakura sat leaned over on the couch as she rubbed her temples in frustration. There was so much going on that she could hardly think straight. First off, _why _was Sasuke being so different towards her? Maybe over the years he'd matured a little. After all, he _did _kill his brother and Orochimaru. Because of that, maybe he could finally be at peace and not be so cold and distant.

'_But it just seems so weird,' _Sakura thought as the idea ran through her mind over and over. _'Sasuke not being cold-hearted? It may take some time to get used to, but… Sasuke?? But then again…he really hasn't changed his attitude towards Naruto…or anyone else for that matter. Except me. Why me?' _She reached across the table for her mug of coffee, which Sasuke thought was pretty peculiar for someone to drink coffee in the evening. _'There's got to be a reason for that,' _Sakura continued in her mind. _'Hmm…think back at age twelve, maybe you'll find something. Lessee…what was his other goal again? Something about Hokage? No, wait, that was Naruto's. Umm…' _

Sakura pondered as hard as she had ever in a long time trying to remember what it was Sasuke said back then. It was a little difficult for her to recall seeing as she had did her best to remove all memories of Sasuke from her mind since he had left the village. But then, suddenly, it was so random it threw her completely off, it hit her like ten 18-wheelers carrying over a ton of bricks.

'_Hmm…wait a minute…no…No way..' _Her eyes widened about ten times their normal size and her face was completely flushed. _'Noo! No freakin way!!' _She started to promptly hyperventilate inside her mind. _'His… goal… clan… restoration…MEE?! Oh God, I feel faint.'_

"Sakura," came the smooth, husky voice of Sasuke. "Are you feeling alright?"

At the sound of his voice she snapped her head up only to have her widened and distressed eyes to meet with his dark, calm and sexy ones. Considering that she was panicking like crazy inside her mind and that she looked like a cherry with giant emerald eyes, this only made things worse. Especially when he came up to her and touched her forehead.

"Do you have a fever? You're hot."

"WH-WH-WHAT?!" She shouted nervously.

"You're forehead…it's burning hot. Nothing to be surprised about. I mean, you're a doctor, you could fix it up no problem." He replied calmly as he raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Ohh…" Sakura breathed, relieved that he was talking about her heated forehead.

Sasuke took his seat back in the recliner across from Sakura as he studied her cautiously. _'What's gotten into her all of the sudden?' _He wondered. _'Maybe it's that therapy Tsunade is making her take. She sure has been a little…different this past week.'_

"Hey Sakura," he said suddenly. The pink-haired maiden shot her head up in response. "I hope you don't mind me asking but, how's that therapy going for you?" Sakura's eyes went back to their normal, glaring selves and her face drained of all redness as she temporarily forgot about her discovery of Sasuke's "plans" for her.

"What do you care?" she replied coldly.

"Sakura," he said stoically. "I'm just trying to help. And I know that it's not really in my nature to care about another person's welfare, but I'll explain everything very soon if you just let me in."

"You never let _me _in." Sakura retorted. "Why should I let you?"

"Because—!" Sasuke stopped in mid-sentence. He honestly hadn't any idea what he was feeling at that moment. Sure, he _cares _for her. But that's not at all what it felt like…he didn't know it yet, but he was feeling _so _much more. He didn't say anything else, but there was something in his eyes, something sincere, that made Sakura _want _to tell him.

She sighed heavily as she sat up straight and folded her arms across her chest. "She didn't do anything at all…just made it worse. And I'm still having the nightmares…Part of the reason for the therapy was to end them."

Sasuke blinked. "Still?"

She nodded. "And this pain…it just won't go away. Sometimes it makes me want to do terrible things…like thinking of different ways to kill myself, and the other day in the bathroom I couldn't take my eyes off of my razor…I was thinking of what to do with it."

Sasuke's ebony eyes were widened with an agonizing expression. For some reason it hurt him so much to hear her say such things so seriously. What's more is the possibility that she was actually doing them…He couldn't stand the idea of that, or the fact that he didn't know if she really was cutting herself. He quickly walked over to her, grabbed her wrist and roughly pulled her sleeve down to carefully examine her arm. When he didn't find anything he started over to her other arm.

"I didn't do anything, Sasuke." She whispered. "I'm too much of a coward…I can't even bring a razor to my wrist! What's wrong with me?!"

"Stop saying that." Sasuke ordered. He came down to her level to look her straight in the eye as he brought his hands to her face, which was now growing with heat. "Why are you being so hard on yourself? The only thing that could _possibly _be wrong with you is that you want to end your life so heinously when you've got friends and a sister who need you! Don't you realize how miserable they'd be without you?"

'_How miserable…__**I **__would be?' _He thought to himself.

"Sasuke…" she whispered. "What am I going to do? These dreams and hallucinations are keeping me from going on missions and…I don't know how much more I can take."

Suddenly, Sasuke's memory of three years ago came flooding back to him in an instant.

Flashback, 3 years ago…

_Him, at fifteen, standing over the pit and looking down at his former teammates with two strangers, one their age and the other older, taking Kakashi's place and his own. Then it quickly flashed to him actually in the pit, with Naruto and the other boy motionless on the ground. Suddenly he hears the soft tapping of running footsteps coming towards him. He turns to see Sakura charging full speed with her hands balled into fists and coated with chakra. Just as he takes his sword out to attack her, the older man steps out and he ends up stabbing him instead. Around that time, Naruto is staggering to his feet, his eyes blood red and his pupils are turned into tiny slits. Sasuke sees what is happening and immediately activates his sharingan. There, he is able to see the Nine-Tailed Fox inside Naruto…_

_End flashback_

"That's it…" he whispered.

Sakura looked up at him with a blank expression. "What's it?" she asked.

The young Uchiha looked at her with cold, determined eyes. "Sakura…" he said in a hushed voice. "I think I know how to help you now." Sakura's green eyes sparkled with excitement hearing this.

"Really? How?" she asked anxiously.

Sasuke leaned over closer to her face and gently whispered in her ear, "Close your eyes." His hot breath tickled Sakura's skin and made her shudder, which Sasuke found rather amusing for some reason. She hesitated but did what she was told and slowly and uncertainly, closed her eyes.

TBC…

Cliffhanger!! Moohoohahahahaha!! Cough hack. Ahem. Anyhoo, I am so sorry for not updating sooner! But it's just that softball takes up a lot of my time so, yeah. We have practice every single day from when school lets out till six. And when I get home, I'm super tired. But fret not, coming this summer to computers near you, I'll be updating lots and lots fasta!! Yayz! So until the next time I update, plz review!


	15. beautiful mind

Hey guys

Hey guys! Yep! I'm back and it feels so good!! Sigh. Softball is over…(sniff) tragic ain't it? Anyhoo, I bet ya'll are dying to know what's gonna happen next! Well let me just say that I couldn't have done this chapter without the helpful and genius ideas from ImmortalSasuke! This chappie was his idea! And I love him for it! Thanx! XD and sorry I took so long! n.n

Disclaimer: (insert witty disclaimer here) … yeah I got nothin'

Chapter 15: beautiful mind

It was dark. Quiet. It actually started to scare Sasuke. His sharingan was activated, and through his bright red eyes he saw nothing but darkness inside Sakura's mind.

"Cricket, cricket." He chuckled to himself.

"Hey, I heard that!" came Sakura's loud, angry voice. "You're in my head dumbass, I can hear what you're saying!"

'_My bad…' _he thought sheepishly. He continued to search, walking knee-deep in water towards the black space. It was like being inside Naruto's mind. Only Sakura's was more…sinister. But another feeling was there. Something a little more dominant than sinister. It was sorrow. Around the time that Sasuke realized this, he suddenly heard a faint sound from a short distance to his left. He turned and ran toward it, getting his sword ready to face whatever it was. But he stopped abruptly when he reached the figure. He looked down to see that it was Sakura, down on her knees and sobbing for all she was worth. Sasuke noticed that her clothes were torn and she was bruised and beaten.

"S…Sakura?"

She immediately raised her head up to have her now red, puffy eyes to meet with his dark ebony ones. The first thing that Sasuke noticed was her forehead. Written in the Japanese symbols were the words "Inner Sakura".

"N-No…" She replied in a frightened voice. "I'm her inner…"

"Inner?" Sasuke echoed. "What do you mean?" he asked as he helped her off the floor. Her face turned completely red as he gently grabbed her arms and lifted her.

"I-I'm who she really is. What she thinks, how she feels…so I guess because of that, we really _are _the same person." She explained. "Like if Naruto is pulling some kind of prank and my outer is scolding him, I'm in here cheering him on."

"So it seems," Sasuke said thoughtfully. "For the past several years, Sakura hasn't really always been her true self. Even when we were genin."

"Yeah.." Inner Sakura sniffled as she continued her crying.

"Why are you crying?" he asked. Suddenly a loud thud was heard only a few yards from them. Turning to him, Inner Sakura's eyes grew wide and frightened as she grasped his shirt and pulled herself closer to him.

"Please, you have to help me!" she begged in a whisper. "He's coming…!"

"Who? Who's coming?" the young Uchiha asked as he rested his hands on her shaking shoulders as if to comfort her. But suddenly, a low dark chuckle echoed throughout the immediate area answered his question.

"Sakura…" the voice called in singsong. "I've been looking for you." It said as the figure stepped out of the shadows. And then there was a small light allowing Sasuke to see a good distance around them. But he looked up indignantly to see that the voice belonged to Soubi, the sick man sneering at the two from a dangerously close distance.

"Please…not again." Inner Sakura whispered. But Soubi only cracked an evil smile and as he stepped towards her, Sasuke dashed in between them, sword in hand. His eyes were a burning, raging red, boiling with seething hatred. He felt the exact same hatred for Soubi as he did for his brother, if not worse.

"Soubi…you bastard," he growled. "If you so much as _look _at her in that way again, I'll make sure you'd wish you were dead." Soubi stared at Sasuke for a few seconds before mocking him with a smile.

"Who are you to tell me what to do anyway? This is none of your business. Especially because this is something you wouldn't have the slightest clue about." he sneered.

"And what would that be?!" Sasuke demanded.

"Love, of course." He laughed. Sasuke's eyes widened in utter confusion and shock.

"What?"

"You see," Soubi laughed again. "You haven't the slightest idea to what it really is, do you? Poor Sakura has loved you since you were children. And when she finally confesses her feelings to you, you broke her heart. Now she has someone who can be there for her, someone who loves her. Myself."

"You call this love?" Sasuke growled through clenched teeth. "Beating her and raping her…How can you call that love?!"

"I'll admit, I got a little angry when she slapped me, but—"

"And you murdered her mother! You molested her sister! And yet, you stand there smiling as if everything in the world was pure and wonderful and say you love her!!" Inner Sakura fell to her knees in pure shock and fear hearing Sasuke's sudden outburst. "Soubi…" he snarled. "I'll kill you!!"

Sasuke swung his long sword completely around in attempt to slash Soubi's throat, but he quickly jumped back and kept a safe distance from the enraged Uchiha. Then much to Sasuke's surprise, Soubi put his hands together to form an unfamiliar hand sign as he grimly murmured:

"_Ninja art: Blood Mist Jutsu…" _

The surrounding area suddenly became thick with a rusty-red kind of color. Sasuke covered his nose with his free hand, but he kept his guard up. _What kind of mist is this? _He thought. _It stinks, but it's really…familiar. Wait…this is actual blood. What kind of sicko is he? _

"Sakura!" he called from over his shoulder. "Stay close to me." Inner Sakura obeyed as she shakily staggered up behind him.

All around them they couldn't see anything but misty red clouds, but they could hear the sound of running footsteps flying towards them. Sasuke's grip on his sword tightened as he readied himself for contact. And as the footsteps grew louder and louder, and closer still, they came right up to Sasuke…and stopped. Then they were drowned in silence.

But suddenly out of nowhere, from behind Sakura, Soubi's hand, gripping a kunai, came flying out of the mist and toward Sasuke. But because of Sasuke's sharingan, he was too fast and was able to block his attack with his sword. He managed to knock the knife from Soubi's hand and attempted to stab him, but Soubi jumped again and kept a safe distance. It went on like this: every time Sasuke had an opportunity, Soubi would jump back a certain distance. It was obvious that he was a long-range fighter, but it was starting to infuriate Sasuke.

"Soubi! You coward! Stop dodging and fight!" Sasuke was invested in dark silence for what seemed like almost an eternity before he got his answer.

"As you wish…" A kunai suddenly flew out of the red mist and pierced Sasuke's stomach, causing him to double over in pain. Soubi stepped out of the shadows and grimly walked over to him with another, more long and sinister, kunai in hand.

"Sasuke!" Inner Sakura called out, but she dared not move.

"Shut up you pathetic tramp!" Soubi yelled, "I'll take care of you later."

Inner Sakura was frightened into silence.

"Don't…you dare…talk to her that way!" Sasuke stood and roared in fury. He leapt up into the air, spewing blood all around the immediate area, some of it splattering on Inner Sakura's distressed face. He came down hard with his sword drawn and ready to kill. Soubi effortlessly dodged his blow by jumping back that certain distance, but this time he was taken a bit by surprise and Sasuke managed to slice through his shirt and make a small cut into Soubi's arm.

"Ha! You'll never be able to do any real damage if you keep this up!" Soubi declared confidently. But suddenly he gasped as he felt Sasuke's sword dangerously pressed against his throat. At first, Soubi thought he was seeing double! Not only was there a Sasuke in front of him, who was doubled over in pain with a kunai jutting out of his stomach, but there was one behind him as well. He could feel his hot, enraged breath tickling the back of his neck. Then the Sasuke in front of him went up in a cloud of dust, which cleared to reveal a log.

"Just a little trick I learned when I was a kid." Sasuke whispered cunningly.

"A substitution? Very clever…" Soubi breathed. And without hesitation, Sasuke immediately slashed Soubi's throat to ribbons. But he soon learned, to his disappointment, that it was a substitution.

"But not clever enough." Soubi's voice came from Inner Sakura's direction. Sasuke immediately turned towards her in horror to see that Soubi had his arm under her chin, forcing her to painfully lift her head, and in his other hand, the same sinister kunai grazing against her jugular.

"Drop your sword." Soubi demanded. "Throw it out of your reach." Sasuke's distressed onyx eyes widened as he desperately searched his mind for a solution, but he didn't have a choice, he realized, as he threw his sword into the darkness.

_What do I do? _He asked himself. _If I make one false move, he'll kill her…Even though this isn't the Sakura I know, she's her inner…if he kills her God knows what'll happen to Outer Sakura…What do I do? _

"You could always give up." Soubi sneered. It was as if he read Sasuke's mind. The young Uchiha looked up in surprise.

"What?"

"Just give up Uchiha. Leave us to ourselves…" As he ended his sentence vulgarly, he leaned over and kissed Inner Sakura gently on her forehead, who cringed and shuddered in fear at his slightest touch. Sasuke's eyes burned bright red in anger as the dark commas began to swirl into a different form. Soubi flinched in surprise at first, but then only smirked arrogantly, which infuriated Sasuke further. The dark haired avenger closed his eyes for only a second, and then opened them again to reveal the mangekyo sharingan in all its glory.

"The mangekyo sharingan, huh?" Soubi observed as he grinned maliciously. "I see…you've finally obtained enough hatred." His eyes sparkled with interest, wondering if he was going to do what he thought he was, and wondering if he knew the exact outcome.

"I've never felt this much hate before in my life…not even for my brother." Sasuke growled. "I'm just giving you a fair warning…you WILL be begging for mercy!"

"Go ahead! Do it Uchiha!" Soubi demanded.

"Mangekyo sharin—"

"No Sasuke!! Don't do it!!" Inner Sakura screamed. "That's exactly what he wants! He's not real; he's only an illusion inside my mind! If you use genjutsu on him, then whatever happens to him happens to me!"

Sasuke took a step back and cursed under his breath. What was he supposed to do now?

"So tell me…Uchiha," Soubi sneered. Sasuke sent him a scathing death-glare as he watched him tighten his grip on Inner Sakura. "Why would you go so far for her?"

Sasuke blinked in surprise. "What did you say?"

"I said, why would you go so far for her?"

Sasuke growled in frustration. Why was he asking him such a question? "I don't think that's any of your business!" he yelled.

"C'mon…you can tell me." he laughed as he gently grazed the knife along her neck and watched her wince in pain. "Does she owe you something? Money perhaps? Let me guess: you had your fun with her and she didn't pay you."

"What?!" Sasuke shouted.

"I know it doesn't usually work that way, but look at this face…" Still holding the kunai, he wrapped his fingers roughly around her tear-streaked face. "Not even a face a mother could love…But she doesn't have a mother does she?" he laughed. "I'm guessing that she was willing to pay _you, _am I right?"

"You shut up!!" Sasuke yelled as he struggled to restrain himself. Soubi blinked in confusion. Especially after he saw the young Uchiha gave his hand a sudden jerk, but he ignored it.

"What? Am I wrong? Well, what is the reason then? It can't be because you _love _her." Sasuke remained silent as he glared the man down with such fury he felt as though he were about to explode from restraining himself. Soubi cracked an evil smirk and was about to answer his own question…when suddenly, to his surprise, blood splattered everywhere and he felt a sharp pain piercing through his chest. His clear blue eyes widened as he slowly looked down to see Sasuke's sword coming out of his chest from his back. He looked back up at Sasuke, who was smirking triumphantly, and glared at him before loosening his grip on Inner Sakura and falling face down on the floor lifeless.

"Just a little something I 'borrowed' from Orochimaru." Sasuke murmured.

"The Kusanagi blade…" Inner Sakura whispered. She was in such shock that she dared not move, so Sasuke gladly walked over to her instead.

"Sakura," he whispered in her ear as he wrapped her in his warm, strong embrace. "You're safe now."

"Oh, Sasuke…" she sighed. "Thank you…"

Without realizing it, Sasuke started to stroke her soft pink hair lovingly.

"Sasuke…can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why…?"

Sasuke pulled back a little to look at her. "Why what?"

"Why _would _you go so far for me? You never had before."

Sasuke sighed in lull. "It's hard to explain…" he whispered.

"To explain…" she looked down shyly. "What you…feel? Is that so hard?" And though she was looking down, Sasuke could still see the dark blush spreading across her face, which caused him to turn a little pink himself.

"Uhh…Sakura?" he asked. She timidly looked up in response.

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you…" He hesitated, afraid to ask, and afraid of what her answer might be. "Still…love me?"

Inner Sakura gasped at his question; it nearly threw her off. But she looked in his eyes. His dark, mysterious…sad onyx eyes. Could it be possible that…he feels the same? There was only one way, she decided, to find out for sure.

"Sasuke," she whispered. He looked into her emerald eyes, admiring how beautiful they were. "I…I lov—"

But before Inner Sakura could finish her sentence, Sasuke blacked out.

A few minutes later he woke up on his couch with a warm cloth on his forehead. He staggered up and propped himself on his elbows to see he was back in his living room.

"S-Sakura?" he silently called out.

"Right here." She said as she appeared out of nowhere upside down facing Sasuke.

"Wha…What happened?" he asked.

"You ran out of chakra, that's what." She explained. "Hn. For the great Uchiha prodigy, that was quite irresponsible. I mean, you never _did _deactivate that new sharingan of yours. Pretty clumsy." She said half sarcastically.

Sasuke sighed. He never did hear the rest of Inner Sakura's sentence. But then again, maybe he could! After all, she _is _the source of Sakura's _true _feelings. She could probably tell him…or deny it. But either way, it was worth a shot.

"Hey, Sakura…" he said slowly.

"Yeah?" She asked as she straightened herself up.

"What was it that you were about to say…while I was still there? Before I passed out?" Sakura suddenly twitched as she turned her back to hide her blush.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Having almost zero chakra is making you delusional." She said stoically.

"But—"

"Actually, I'm suddenly very tired." She interrupted. "I think we should both go to bed."

Sasuke sighed. He knew that she would deny it. He knew for a fact that he wasn't delusional at all. He just knew. But he also knew in time that she would tell him herself when she was ready.

"Oh, and Sasuke…" she said before she departed up the stairs. "…Thank you."

TBC…

Hey guys! Ok, I am so so so so so so sorry that I took forever again! A lot of things came up and thus delayed me from finishing this chappy! First off, writer's block. Oh! Big shocker huh! Lol jk! Secondly, family stuff that I'd rather not discuss. Anyhoo, once again, I'd like to thank ImmortalSasuke for this chappy! And also my friend Shani for helping me sort out my 899th case of writer's block! And btw, Shani is now a new member of our fanfiction family! Her pen name is…Kitsune! I'm pretty sure there's more to her name than that so I'll be sure to ask her and post it in my next chappy! She hasn't uploaded any stories yet, but she has them on her flash drive and they are awesome!! XD Anyhoo, plz review and plz send me some suggestions for the story! I'll try to update as soon as possible! Bye byez for now!


	16. first date? OMG!

_Hey party people! Sorry I took a long time updating in the last chappy, so as a token of my apology, and gratitude for the reviews, here's chapter sixteen!! XD _

_Disclaimer: (annoying random person with puppy dog eyes) do you own naruto nice lady? _

_(me) for the last time NO!! lol_

_**Chapter 16: First Date? OMG!**_

_The next morning Sasuke was sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper. But he couldn't help himself from straining his peripheral vision to glance at the haunting little black book on the coffee table in the living room. _

_It's so tempting, _he thought. _But something's keeping me from it…something is telling me to stay away…But I can't. _

He immediately placed the newspaper down and stood from his seat. He quickly walked in the living room, towards the book and picked it up. He was about to open it but out of the corner of his eye he saw pink at the foot of the stairs. Sasuke turned and as he thought, there was Sakura, staring at him in silence as tears wistfully rolled down her cheeks. 

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked in an alarmed voice as he set the book down. "What's wrong?" She said nothing but instead walked over to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face into his warm chest. 

"Sakura, what is it?" he asked again as he held her gently. 

She sniffed quietly and nuzzled against him before replying in a whisper, "Thank you." Sasuke realized at that moment what she was referring to. Her nightmares and hallucinations had gone for good. 

"Y…You're welcome." Sasuke flushed red as he looked down to see Sakura's cleavage completely visible; she was wearing nothing but a white spaghetti-strap and short black shorts. Oblivious to Sasuke's reddened face, Sakura pulled back and wiped the tears off her face. 

"I'm sorry," she sniffed. 

"No," Sasuke said, still blushing. "You shouldn't be." He took note that the blood was drained from her face, making her look like one of those pasty-faced vampires he saw in horror movies all the time. Was she scared of something? She had a very tired expression in her green eyes, whereas if she were scared, her eyes would be full of alertness, so was she sick? 

"Would you like some breakfast?" he asked, thinking if she were sick, breakfast would be the best thing for her at the moment. 

Immediately she answered. "Yes," she nodded. "I'd like that." 

"Do you want to wake Chihiro, or do you want me to?" 

"No, leave her. She'll come down when she wakes up."

**-**

Sasuke looked at her from across the table as she finished her omelet and saw that she contained a blank expression on her face. "Hey," he said. "When are you gonna smile? You always used to smile." 

Sakura sighed heavily as she set her fork down. "Didn't I explain this before?" she murmured bitterly. "Smiling is a waste of energy. Besides…there's no point." 

"But Sakura," he said, surprised that of all people Sakura would say something like this. "How can you say that?" 

"How can you say what?" 

Both shinobi turned to see Chihiro standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey Chihiro." Sakura greeted. 

"Hi." her sister said blandly. She strolled through the kitchen without even making the slightest eye contact with Sasuke or Sakura and poured herself a glass of water. 

"Uh, Chihiro, do you want breakfast?" Sakura asked. 

"Not hungry." she replied stoically as she walked out of the room. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other quizzically. Since when was Chihiro NOT hungry? 

"Is your sister alright?" Sasuke asked. 

"Yeah, she's probably still mad from yesterday…" She said as stoically as Chihiro did. "She'll be fine." 

Sasuke quickly glanced at the book in the living room and looked away just as quickly before Sakura could see him. He knew he'd have to read that thing sooner or later. He decided he'd do it as soon as Sakura was gone. 

"_NO, you idiot! Ask her if she has plans first!" _screamed a voice from inside Sasuke's head. Surprised, he started to look around frantically, earning a puzzled look from Sakura. 

"Something wrong?" she asked slowly. 

"Wha…? Oh, uh, no. Not at all…" he replied. "Just thought I heard something." 

"_You __**did **__genius!" _the voice yelled again. Not wanting Sakura to think he was mentally insane, Sasuke remained as calm as possible as he realized the voice was from inside his head. 

_Who is this? _he thought. _And what do you want?_

"_Never mind that now; ask her about plans! Before she gets away!!" _it shouted as Sakura rose from her seat and carried her plate to the sink.

_Alright! Fine. _he said, annoyed that he was taking orders from a voice that probably didn't even exist.

He cleared his throat. "Um, Sakura?" he asked the pink haired girl.

"Yeah?" she said as she looked at him over her shoulder.

"Do you…" he sighed bashfully, and Sakura took great amusement in noticing this. "Have any…plans…today?" Sakura turned back to the sink and sighed.

"Well, seeing as how I've quit that pointless therapy and Tsunade hasn't assigned me any missions yet, I would have to say no." she replied nonchalantly.

"Y-You quit?" he asked, shocked that she hadn't even told him till now. "But you've only been going a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, and all it's done is made it worse!" she barked. But she calmed herself down and relaxed. "You did a much better job in helping me than that dimwitted, nosy psychiatrist could ever do." she continued in a mere whisper in which only Sasuke could hear. "I just…want to forget."

Suddenly she felt a strong hand rest on her shoulder and it almost made her drop her plate. She turned her head to see Sasuke's dazzling onyx eyes pierce into her emerald orbs.

"Come with me today--into town." he said gently. "We could…hang out. If you want."

Sakura's eyes widened greatly in sheer shock as she raised an eyebrow in confusion. Did he just ask her what she thought he asked her?! Was he asking her out on a _date?!_ She silently pulled her hand behind her back and pinched her other arm to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She wasn't. And strangely enough, she could hear Inner Sakura inside her head squealing in a fan-girlish way. Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out; just a big ball of nothing. She could tell she looked like a retarded goldfish, so she slowly nodded her head to give Sasuke his answer.

"Okay then, great." he said with a little smirk. "We'll leave in a couple of hours." He told her as he walked into the living room and out of sight. Sakura could tell he was laughing inwardly at her about her reaction.

"_Oh my God!!"_ Inner Sakura squealed.

_Hey, where have you been? _Sakura thought. _Haven't heard from you in a while._

"_Well, you know how it is…With all the stuff that's been happening for the past six years, I just kinda kept to myself."_ Her inner explained.

_So why show up now? _Sakura asked.

"_Why do you think?" _she replied half sarcastically.

Sakura didn't have to ask her inner to explain any further; she knew what she was talking about. Or better yet, she knew _who _she was talking about. The tall, dark and mysterious, stoic raven-haired avenger. Sasuke Uchiha.

**-**

Sasuke walked into the living room, inwardly laughing about Sakura's confused expression.

"_Isn't she adorable when she's confused?" _the voice spoke up in a daydreaming voice.

_Wait a minute, just who the heck are you anyway?! _Sasuke shouted in his mind.

"_What? You haven't figured it out? Geez, I thought you were supposed to be one of the smart ones. This just about proves me wrong." _

_Would you just shut up and tell me who you are?!_

"_All right, All right! God, you don't have to yell." _the voice continued. _"I'm your inner."_

Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief. _My…what?_

"_Inner, stupid. I am the source of your real thoughts and feelings."_ he explained. "_You know, like Sakura-chan's." _

_You mean…Sakura's not the only one with an inner? __**I **__have one too??_

"_That's the idea genius."_

_Wow…_ Sasuke thought with slight amusement. _I have an inner too--Wait a minute! Did you just call her 'Sakura-chan'?!_

"_An adorable nickname for an adorable woman…"_ Inner Sasuke sighed in the same daydreaming voice.

_Are you seriously my inner? _Sasuke asked with disbelief. _It's kinda hard to believe…I never talk like that._

"_Yeah, but the thing is, I __**am **__your inner, which is , as I've already explained, the source of your __**true **__feelings…So you might never __**talk **__like this, but without a doubt, you certainly __**think **__like this!" _Inner Sasuke explained with laughter. _"You pervert!"_

_What?! Pervert?! What are you talking about?! _

"_Hey, I know all the things you think about Sakura-chan!"_

_Well, that makes you a pervert too because you're my inner thoughts! And besides we're the same person!_

"_Yep, only I'm not embarrassed to admit I'm a pervert." _Inner Sasuke smirked devilishly.

_You're sick. _

"_You're fat."_

_Hey! _

**-.-'**

"_Oh…my…God." _Inner Sakura groaned as she watched her outer self pull out a plain blue long-sleeve shirt from the closet. _"What…is __**that**__?" _

_A shirt. _Sakura said promptly. _I…was thinking about wearing it today…_

"_OH, NO!" _Inner Sakura protested. _"No, no, no, no, NO!" _

_No? _Sakura echoed. _Whaddaya mean 'no'?_

"_Are you hearing yourself?!" _Inner Sakura yelled. _"After all the years of fawning over him and getting rejected, you are finally going on a date with __**the **__Sasuke Uchiha!" _

_So? What's your point?_

"_You need to make yourself presentable! Loosen up! And by 'loosen up' I mean do anything to make yourself look sexy! Wear lingerie for all I care!" _

_I'm not going out in public looking like a slut. _

"_Fine. Just at least wear something that shows a little cleavage!" _

_Like what?!_

Sakura cringed as Inner Sakura smiled mischievously at her question.

"_Glad you asked."_

**;)**

After finishing a rather amusing argument with his inner, Sasuke glanced around the room to make sure there wouldn't be any more interruptions before narrowing his dark, fierce eyes at the book that taunted him so as it rested on the coffee table. He slowly reached for it when he was rudely interrupted.

"_So when exactly do you plan on banging her?"_

Sasuke fell over anime style.

_What the heck kind of question is that?! _he yelled mentally.

"_Hey, it's just a question!"_ Inner Sasuke replied defensively. _"You're the one who planned on doing it anyway!"_

_That's different!_

"_How?" _He pressed. _"C'mon, you and I both know that you're not going to do it just to revive the clan anymore… You love her."_

…

"_Sasuke?"_

Said man remained silent.

**u.u**

"No…way." Sakura said out loud. "No way am I wearing this!"

"_Oh, you're wearing it alright!" _Inner Sakura laughed. _"Just look at you! You're gorgeous!"_

_But…I'm so self-conscious… _Sakura thought dejectedly. _Besides, I'm moving way too fast. I should just--_

"_What? Stay home and sulk? Throw yourself a pity party? Why don't we kick it up a notch and cut our wrists just for the fun of it?!" _Inner Sakura snapped bitterly.

_It's not like that!_

"_It's not? C'mon Sakura, you're never gonna get over it unless you move on." _Inner Sakura said in a more gentler tone.

_But…it was barely a month ago…_ Sakura said tearfully.

She could hear her inner sigh inside her head. But a slight movement in the mirror caught her eye and her mouth gaped open in surprise. She saw herself, but her reflection had "Inner Sakura" written backwards (because she was looking in the mirror) on her forehead. She reached her hand her own forehead when her reflection spoke.

"It's me."

"Inner…me?" Sakura questioned hesitantly. "But how…? I can see you??"

"Only when I want you to." she replied. "And listen, I know you're going through a really hard time right now. You're afraid."

Sakura turned her head from the mirror. "Of what? I'm not afraid of anything." she lied.

"To trust."

Sakura whirled her head back toward Inner Sakura. "What?"

"You can't fool me Sakura." she continued. "You're afraid to ever trust anyone again, even our closest friends." Sakura looked down at her feet in shame and embarrassment. Inner Sakura had hit it dead on.

"Listen…" she said as she lifted her hand towards her face, which in turn, made Sakura lift her own hand towards her own face. "Not all guys are like Soubi." Sakura sighed as her inner stroked her face gingerly. "And don't be self-conscious. You're beautiful."

Sakura sniffed as several small tears raced down her cheeks. "Thanks…"

"Hey, hey, hey! No tears today!" Inner Sakura said with a smile as she brushed her tears off her face. "You're going on a date with Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sakura blushed wildly at her inner's comment.

**O/./O **

Sasuke was just about to go over the edge of insanity as he roughly massaged his temples. He'd had enough questions.

"_Okay, okay. One more question!"_

_No! No more questions!_

"_How are you gonna get her to moan first?"_

_I said no more questions!_

"_Do you expect her to put up a little fight and give in, or to be an adorable tease?"_

_What is it with you and the word "adorable"?! I never say "adorable"! _Sasuke thought angrily. _Let me ask you a question: what makes you think that I would ever say the word--_

"_Ahem."_ Inner Sasuke mentally pointed to the bottom of the stairs.

"Umm…" came a shy mumble from where Inner Sasuke was pointing. Sasuke turned and blinked with shock and adoration as his jaw dropped to the floor. A light tint of pink quickly spread across his face.

"Adorable…" he whispered.

Sakura stood timidly at the bottom of the stairs with her hands intertwined behind her back. Her head was facing towards the left, though her green eyes peered from the side at Sasuke, wondering if she didn't look as pretty as her inner kept saying she was. Her pink hair was tied with a white ribbon into a high ponytail and she wore a light yellow sundress with a small pink and white flower pattern. It was spaghetti strap and was also low cut, a personal touch from Inner Sakura, tight around her petite waist but it flared out from her hips to above her knees, she had white flip-flops, and her nails were painted the same shade of pink as her hair. Sakura's face flushed when she realized that Sasuke couldn't stop staring.

"Uh…" she murmured. "I hope it's not too--"

"No. It's perfect." Sasuke said before she could finish her sentence.

"_WHOA! Can you say 'Major hottie'?" _Inner Sasuke exclaimed with two thumbs-up.

"Would you shut up?" Outer Sasuke whispered.

"What?" Sakura asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, oh, n-nothing!" Sasuke quickly answered. "Just saying…how beautiful you look." Sakura's face now looked like a tomato as she let out a lull gasp of surprise. She was definitely not expecting that to come from Sasuke. Even Inner Sakura turned red.

"_Nice save, Romeo."_ Inner Sasuke laughed. Sasuke ignored him and walked gracefully toward Sakura and held out his hand.

"Shall we?"

She hesitated, still unsure if this was the right thing to do.

"_Go on. It'll be alright. I promise."_ Inner Sakura said encouragingly.

Listening to her inner voice, Sakura slowly lifted her hand and placed it in Sasuke's.

"_Good girl!"_

"Are you serious?" Sasuke and Sakura turned to the top of the stairs to see Chihiro glowering down at them. "Now you're going on a _date _with him?!" she exclaimed in shock. "Sakura, what's happened to you?"

"Chihiro--" Sakura tried to reason with her but she had already fled to her room and locked the door.

"God…" Sakura sighed heavily in aggravation.

"Maybe…this was a bad idea." Sasuke said hesitantly.

"_You idiot!!" _Inner Sasuke screamed in a panicky tone. _"What are you doing?!"_

"No, no, no! It's okay!" Sakura protested. "She'll be fine, really."

"You sure?"

"Of course. If there's one thing I know about my sister, it's that she's not one to hold a grudge _too _long." she said nonchalantly.

Sasuke gave her a small smile. "That's good to hear." he said gently. Still grasping her hand, he led Sakura towards the door, and out in town.

**XD**

The streets of Konoha were especially busy that day. As Sasuke and Sakura rounded the corner of the Uchiha complex they were suddenly swept away in a sea of people going on about their daily lives. Because of the unusually large number of people pushing and shoving past them, Sasuke had to grip Sakura's hand tighter as to not lose her, making her blush even more. And since Sasuke was too busy watching where he was going, Sakura thanked God that he didn't notice. After some time, the streets started to ease up a little and it became easier for Sasuke to lead Sakura around, who was getting more and more embarrassed by the minute. Everywhere she looked, people turned and stared at them, or _her. _

_Aww…They're all staring…_ She groaned inside her mind.

"_Just relax," _Inner Sakura assured her outer. _"They're just admiring you."_ she beamed.

"So what would you like to do?" he asked her as they walked at a steady pace side by side.

"Huh?" Sakura asked, clearly confused. "What do _I _wanna do?"

"Well…Yeah." Sasuke replied with a raised eyebrow. "What do you usually do on dates?" Sakura turned her gaze from Sasuke and looked at the ground embarrassingly.

"Well…actually, this is the very first date I've ever been on…" she said sheepishly.

"Oh…I see…" he replied.

Suddenly they both realized what they were saying and turned bright red.

"I'm so sorry!" Sakura panicked. "I-I-I meant to say--I mean, it's not exactly a…"

"No, it's okay!" Sasuke said sheepishly. "You're right, it's not really a, uh…date…"

"Yeah! We're just hanging out! No big deal!"

"Right. Yeah…"

They both looked around awkwardly for a moment or so before realizing that there was a speck of orange in the massive sea of people. And it started to grow bigger and bigger until they realized with annoyance that it was actually Naruto. And he had a shy Hinata with him.

"HEY SASUKE!! SAKURA!!" he yelled unnecessarily. "YOU GUYS ON A DATE TOO?!"

Sakura became so enraged of embarrassment that she couldn't restrain herself from bashing Naruto on the head and practically sending him in the next dimension.

"Naruto! Would you shut up?!" she yelled angrily.

"Ah! Naruto-kun!" Hinata squeaked in her small timid voice as she peered in the hole where Naruto now laid. "Are you okay?"

"Hey…I see tiny little ramen bowls swirling around my head…" the blonde ninja muttered dazedly.

"Baka…" Sasuke sighed. This wasn't going exactly as he had planned, but it was indeed going to be interesting.

TBC…

Well, well, well! So Sasuke finally asked Sakura out! But of course they're in denial. Typical. Lol XD so…what exactly IS Sasuke planning to happen on this date? Will it be the obvious, or the completely unexpected? To find out, you must review! Moohoohahahahahahahahahaha!! I need lots of reviews to help boost the creativeness in meh mind!


	17. double dating

Hey guys! Just so that I don't think I'm crazy, ya'll did notice that the first one-third of the last chapter was underlined right? Yeah, I dunno why it did that. I guess my computer was just acting up or something…anyhoo, here is chapter 17! WHEEE!! Cough cough.

Oh, and btw, I mentioned this in one of my other stories, so I'll mention it in this one too, my friend zak has a youtube account and has some hilarious videos! And rite now I'm pretty much advertising them! Lol just type in "braidtv900" and all his videos will pop up! They are funny! Most of them are "95" episodes he made, which are 95 seconds of pure, random nonsense! I'm in a few of them, like the first one I'm doing a headbang…lol XD and in another one I'm saying "why does it smell like coffee in here?" and zak says, "it's star bucks Rachel." anyway, there are a bunch of them, so go watch them after you read the chappy! XD lol

Disclaimer: I no own Naruto

**Chapter 17: Double Dating**

After everything had settled down, Sasuke helped Naruto out of the hole Sakura created when she punched the annoying blonde ninja, and Sakura wasn't as mad or embarrassed as she was before. Well, kinda. But nonetheless, both couples had agreed to go on a double date, (though Sasuke and Sakura were still in denial) since it was both Sakura and Hinata's first and they figured it'd help them feel less awkward.

"Hey! Why don't we go to Itchiraku for lunch?" Naruto suggested.

"No!" Sasuke and Sakura shouted in unison.

"I'm sick of ramen…" Sasuke muttered.

"Well, fine! Where do you guys wanna go?" Naruto pouted. Sasuke and Sakura glanced at each other in thought. They hadn't really thought about lunch what with all that had happened that morning.

"Uh…we dunno." Sakura shrugged. "What about you Hinata? Where do you wanna go?" Hinata blushed a little at the sudden attention. She hated being put on the spot, especially in front of Naruto.

"Umm…well…I heard that there's a festival on the other side of the village today…" she murmured as she fidgeted with her fingers. "We could…have lunch there."

"A festival?" Naruto echoed. "That's a great idea Hinata-chan!" he flashed her a great toothy grin, which made her blush even more.

Sakura sighed. _Poor Hinata…She blushes so easily, and Naruto isn't making it any easier for her._

"_Ha! You're one to talk!" _Inner Sakura laughed. "_Hinata's not the only one whose face looks like a cherry!"_

_Quiet you._

But Sakura was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and brought back to reality when she felt Sasuke gently grab her hand and pulled her closer to him as they started walking.

"_See? You're cheeks are pinker than a pig in a purple prom dress!" _Inner Sakura laughed hysterically. Mostly at her own joke.

_Hey, don't go all Robby Ray on me now! I need you! _Sakura told her inner.

"_All right, all right. Just trying to light up the mood here…"_

"Sakura?" she heard Sasuke's velvety voice say suddenly.

"Um, yes?" she said turning to him.

"Are you okay? You're kinda spacing out."

Sakura blinked. "Oh, uh, yeah! I'm fine. Really. Don't worry about me." Suddenly the four ninjas were completely startled when a loud growl rang out. They turned to Sakura, who was now on the brink of literally dying from embarrassment.

"Uh…Sorry. I guess I was hungrier than I thought." she said sheepishly.

"Well, if we hurry we can get all the good food at the festival!" Naruto said as he suddenly pulled Hinata on his back, who let out a surprised squeal, and took off full speed.

Sasuke sighed. "I guess we better go after him."

"Don't even _think _of yanking me on your back." Sakura warned.

"Don't worry; I wasn't." Sasuke said stoically. Somehow Sakura felt a little disappointed. "You'd just slow me down."

Sakura's pupils grew so small with rage they nearly disappeared. Who does he think he is saying she'd slow him down?! She made a solemn vow that she wouldn't be a hindrance anymore, and she would not be insulted by being told that she'd _slow him down. _Without warning, she took off as fast as she could, leaving Sasuke in her dust, who was surprised at her sudden action. But naturally, he ran after her and easily caught up. Sakura turned in surprise to see him already beside her and picked up her pace a little. She looked back and shot him a mischievous gleam in her eye with a smirk to match. Sasuke took the hint and he too picked up his pace. And within only a few seconds, they were racing through Konoha like a tornado in a hurricane. In no time they made it to the festival and skidded to a stop. Sakura, in the incredible speed she was running, stopped too early and lost her footing. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for impact, waiting to come in contact with the hard stone ground. But she waited a few seconds and felt nothing. Nothing but a strong arm snaked around her waist, preventing her from falling. She opened her eyes to see the ground a few feet from her face, and she turned her head to see Sasuke's ebony eyes once again pierce into her emerald ones. Sakura felt the blush reappear when Sasuke raised her up higher, helping her to her feet, and brought his face close to hers.

"Are you okay?" he whispered huskily in her ear. His hot breath tickled her skin and made her shudder with pleasure.

"Uh…yeah…" she replied quietly.

_What's wrong with me?_ she thought. _I need to get ahold of myself. _

"_Whatever!" _Inner Sakura shouted. _"You like it and you know it!"_

_Shut up!_

Sasuke stared at Sakura for a second and raised an eyebrow. She was spacing out again but she was also making weird expressions, as if she were arguing with someone.

_Is she okay?_

"_Don't you see? You did it!" _Inner Sasuke shouted with joy.

_Did what?_

"_Aroused her…" _he replied seductively. _"Now it's time to wrap it up! Forget the festival and check into a hotel!" _

_You're insane! I'm not doing that! Besides, I'm positive that I didn't arouse her in the least._

"_Are you kidding?! Did you see the way she shuddered when you whispered in her ear? That was pleasure my friend." _

_Whatever. Trust me, she's NOT aroused. _

"_OMG, you're SO aroused!" _Inner Sakura squealed.

_Am not!_

"_Whatever, quit arguing with me and talk to Sasuke! He's gonna think you're weird if you continue to stand there like a muted retard!" _

Sakura did as she was told and looked at Sasuke, not wanting him to think that she was ignoring him or something. Sasuke returned the look, hoping Sakura would break the awkward silence.

"HEY GUYS! WHAT TOOK YA?!"

Of course, it had to be Naruto.

**-.-'**

Later they all decided to check out a new restaurant that had just opened in the festival. The guys were talking amongst themselves and occasionally to the girls who weren't really as talkative. Hinata noticed that Sakura looked somewhat nervous.

"Um…Sakura," Hinata murmured as she twirled her fork around her food. "Are you okay? You're even more quiet than me." She giggled. Sakura looked up from her plate and into Hinata's sweet pale lavender eyes. She envied how pure and innocent the Hyuuga heiress obviously was.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she answered blandly. But Hinata didn't need her byakugan to see through the pink haired girl's lie. She stood up, took Sakura by the hand and raised her from her seat.

"We'll be right back." she told the boys sweetly as she and Sakura walked off to the restrooms. As soon as they were out of sight, Naruto shot his attention towards Sasuke with a serious expression.

"Sasuke," he whispered. "I need to talk to you."

The young Uchiha glanced up from his tomato casually. "About what?"

"That book you found…you need to read it ASAP."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I tried to but there were so many distractions--"

"No, Sasuke! You don't understand!" Naruto hissed. "You _need _to read it…"

"Why are you so persistent about this?" Sasuke asked. "What's in there?"

"Here," Naruto reached in his orange jacket and pulled out the tape recorder he found when they broke into Soubi's apartment. "Listen to this later and you'll know what I mean."

"Where did you find that anyway?" Sasuke asked him as he raised an eyebrow.

"When we were searching Soubi's apartment. I might've knocked it off a shelf when I was goofing off. The book must've fallen off with it."

"Hmm… That would make sense." the raven haired Uchiha murmured as he took the tape recorder from Naruto and shoved it in his pocket. "Fine. I'll look it all over tonight." he said with slight disappointment.

"Hey," the blonde ninja said suddenly with amusement. "You're not _disappointed _are you?" he asked mischievously. Sasuke looked up at him in surprise.

"Wh-Why would you say that?" he asked nervously.

"You were planning on doing it…weren't you?" he said with a sly grin plastered on his foxy face.

**O.o**

Hinata led Sakura into the women's restroom and swung her around to where she was now facing her. Sakura was totally taken back by the look in Hinata's eyes. And by her actions. The usually shy Hinata had a serious expression that said, "You can't fool me; I know you're lying". Sakura knew that she couldn't weasel her way out of this one. Not with Hinata.

"Okay, what's going on?" Hinata demanded. Sakura sighed heavily; she knew she had to tell her the whole thing.

"Well, it's like this…" she said slowly. "I'm just nervous…because this is the first date I've ever been on…"

"I know that." Hinata said in annoyance. "Now tell me what you're really nervous about."

"…Uh…" Sakura dreaded having to tell her about Soubi. But then again, even though Hinata was her friend, was it really any of her business? Sakura felt relieved. That meant Sakura didn't have to tell her if she didn't want to.

"Is it that guy?" Hinata whispered. "What was his name…? Soubi?" Sakura blinked as her green eyes widened.

"How did--?"

"Naruto-kun told me." the lavender eyed girl said. "I hope you don't mind. Please don't be mad at him."

"Uh, no…I'm not." Sakura sighed. "I'm actually relieved…that I didn't have to explain it myself."

"But there's more to it isn't there?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's more as to why you're nervous. And I know that it's Sasuke-san."

Sakura gulped loudly. "Uh…Do I really have to?"

"Yes! Now c'mon! out with it!" Hinata demanded with a laugh. "Why are you so nervous around Sasuke?" The rosette haired girl lowered her head in defeat as she sighed heavily.

"Okay…" she started slowly. "Ever since Sasuke came back he's been acting really weird, like he would be a real jerk but then he'd be real compassionate and understanding and just really sweet, but then he'd go back to being a jerk and lately, since Tsunade told me to live with him, he's been really, really nice to me and it confused me because this is Sasuke we're talking about here, and that got me to thinking, and I remembered when we were first formed as a team, Kakashi-sensei asked us what our goals were and Sasuke said he wanted to kill his brother and restore his clan but he already killed his brother so that's when I realized…the only reason he's being nice to me is because he wants me to help him restore his clan!!" she explained speedily and yelled the last part with despair.

Hinata stared at her with her eyes widened ten times their normal size.

"Wait…what now?"

**O.o;**

"Planning on it?!" Sasuke shouted in shock. "I wasn't _planning _on it!"

"Quit lying teme!" Naruto said as he pointed at Sasuke. "You told me yourself that you wanted her to help you resto--"

"Shut up!" he hissed as he clamped his hand over Naruto big mouth.

"Oh-ho-ho! So I AM right!" Naruto laughed against Sasuke's hand. Sasuke sighed as he lifted his hand from Naruto's mouth.

"But…the thing is," he said as he relaxed in his seat. "I'm so confused right now. I don't know how I feel about her. At first it was just to revive the clan…but now…I think it might be so much more. But I don't know if she feels the same. And I don't want to put her in an awkward position."

"Ha! Too late for that." Naruto laughed.

"I'm making her nervous aren't I?"

"Relax. A lot of girls feel nervous on their first date."

"It's not a--!"

"Okay, okay! It's not a date!" Naruto said mockingly. "But do you think she knows about it?"

"No way. I haven't given her any hints at all. She doesn't have the slightest clue."

**XP**

"He want's you to help him restore his clan?!" Hinata squealed.

"Shh! Not so loud!" Sakura shushed her. "I don't anyone to hear!"

"Wow, I wonder what Ino would say?" Hinata thought out loud.

"Oh my God, she wouldn't only tell the whole village, she'd tell the whole world!" Sakura exclaimed.

"…So…um…are you…gonna do it?" the Hyuuga heiress asked innocently as a light tinge of pink appeared on her cheekbones. Sakura's face turned pinker than her hair.

"I…don't know…" she answered shyly. Hinata's face suddenly lit up.

"Sakura! Does that mean…you love him?" she asked with an excited smile.

"I…I don't know how I feel about anything right now. I need some time to think." she said. "And besides, you know the law around here! We're not allowed to have sex if we're under the age of eighteen!"

"But Sasuke's turning eighteen pretty soon!" Hinata pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm be seventeen…Even when he's eighteen, I'll still be a minor."

Hinata shrugged. "Alright." she sighed. "Just do what you think is best."

"Don't worry; I will." Sakura said stoically before walking out the bathroom door. Hinata followed.

**-.-**

After a while, the sun started to slowly fall closer and closer to the horizon and the group decided to go their separate ways. Before they were out of sight, Naruto looked back over his shoulder at Sasuke and gave him a wink, which in turn, made Sasuke give Naruto a glare.

"What was that about?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing." he answered quickly.

"So what should we do now? Go home?" she asked.

"Hn. I guess; it's getting late." he replied. They were about to turn around to go home when suddenly Sakura spotted a bar. She drooled at the thought of how good strawberry wine sounded right then. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and looked towards at what Sakura was looking at. Seeing the bar, he smirked.

"What? Feel like a drink?" he asked.

"Uh, what? No, no. I'm good." she said. "I like to keep a clear head."

"I saw you drooling."

"Well…" Sakura suddenly had a sly gleam in her eyes. "I could use some strawberry wine. If it's not too much to ask."

"No problem." he said as he walked over to the bar, leaving Sakura to wait for him right outside.

"_Hey, isn't strawberry wine a song?" _Inner Sakura asked.

_Uh…sure, I guess. _

"_And isn't it ironic that in the song she mentions seventeen, which is our age?" _she laughed.

_Is there a point to this?_

"_Meh, not really."_

Just then Sasuke walked through the doors of the bar and towards Sakura carrying a bag that contained the wine.

"Alright, let's go." he said casually.

"_Wait, are you sure this is a good idea?" _Inner Sakura asked with concern.

_Sure, I mean why not? I haven't had strawberry wine in forever._

"_I mean, getting drunk with Sasuke. There's no telling what'll happen!"_

_Would you relax? _Sakura told her pesky inner. _I__ know my limits._

"_Ohh…I have a weird feeling about this." _Inner Sakura groaned.

**TBC…**

Sorry that this chappy is a little shorter than the last one! But at least I updated faster! XP lol but fear not! I shall try to make the next one longer! Speaking of which, wonder what's gonna happen in da next chappy… well only I know! moohoohahahahaha! To find out you must review! XD plz and thank u!


	18. strawberry wine

Hey meh homies! XD lol anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed chapter seventeen and perhaps the videos I mentioned! But I have something that you'll enjoy even more than chappy seventeen! Chappy…eighteen!! XD yayz!

Disclaimer: you kishimoto. me bighair. you Naruto. me fanfic. you own. me no.

**Chapter 18: Strawberry Wine**

"I, uh, had a nice time Sasuke." Sakura said timidly as they reached the front door to the Uchiha complex.

"I'm…glad you did…" he said hesitantly as he scratched the back of his head. "I did too…"

"…Uh…so…" Sakura said awkwardly. "This wasn't exactly a…date…but it sorta…felt like one, you know?" her face became flushed when she noticed that Sasuke turned red.

"Um, yeah…I guess it did." he agreed sheepishly.

"So…since I'm new at this whole…date thing, I'm just wondering…" she said shyly as she intertwined her hands behind her back. "Isn't there something that…we're supposed to do…at the end of the date?" She started to edge closer to him.

"Y-You mean like…um…k-kiss…?" Sasuke said as his face started to resemble a tomato. Sakura's heart was pounding with all its might as she went through three different shades of red.

"Um, you know what? I could really go for that wine right now!" Sakura said, quickly changing the subject. Sasuke nodded just as quickly and without hesitation, unlocked the door and flipped on the lights. As soon as they walked inside, the first thing that was on Sakura's mind was Chihiro. She briskly walked up the stairs and to the door of their bedroom.

"Chihiro?" she called as she knocked on the door. "We're back." There was no answer. She slowly opened the door to see Chihiro had fallen asleep with headphones over her ears, blaring music so loud that Sakura could hear it from the doorway. She decided not to disturb her and silently closed the door. She descended down the stairs to see Sasuke examining the bottle of wine.

"Hey, how did you get that anyway?" Sakura asked. "You're not even eighteen."

Sasuke looked at her with a triumphant smirk. "I'm an Uchiha. And a former rouge ninja. I don't think it'd be pretty wise if they didn't give me what I asked for."

"That's terrible." Sakura said half-heartedly.

"Yeah, maybe…but I don't know why you asked me to get this. You're underage." he said as he smirked at her arrogantly.

"Are you kidding?" Sakura said as she walked over to him. "You're underage too!"

"Yeah, but nobody cares what I do." he laughed. "You on the other hand, have a job, as a doctor might I add, and you're Tsunade's apprentice. Do you realize how furious she'd be if she found you drunk at work?"

"I know my limits Uchiha! I know when to stop!" Sakura yelled, angry that he would think that she would be so irresponsible.

"Oh really?" he said as he raised an eyebrow in interest. "Tell you what. I'll let you drink if you play a game with me."

Sakura cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Huh? Game? What kind?"

"A game where you take a sip and tell me something about you that nobody else would know after I ask you a question and I would do the same." Sasuke smiled slyly.

"What?! That's stupid!" Sakura protested.

"Fine. If you don't want this strawberry wine…might as well just throw it out."

"Wait, wait, wait! Let's not do anything rash…" she said, eyeing the wine that Sasuke held. "I'll play."

"Great." Sasuke said with a smirk. He set the bottle on the coffee table and walked into the kitchen towards the cabinet. He opened it and pulled out two shot glasses and walked back into the living room, where he set one shot glass in front of Sakura, opened the bottle and poured the sparkling red liquid in the glasses.

"So who's going first?" he asked.

"I will!" Sakura answered eagerly as she reached for her glass.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Sasuke said as he pulled her drink away. "You said you were going first. That means that you get to ask me a question."

"What?! Do over!"

"Nope! No do overs!"

"Hmph…fine." she said, pouting as she folded her arms over her chest. She pondered about what question she was going to ask him. She remembered the conversation she had with Hinata earlier that day, how they were talking about Sasuke and Sakura's ages. Then she came up with a question.

"When's your birthday?"

"My birthday?" he echoed. "What kind of question is that?"

"Hey! I'm asking the questions here! Now answer and take a swig!"

"Fine. August 13." **(A/N: just guessing!) **

_August 13?! _Sakura thought. _That's only a few days away!_

"_So?"_

_You remember what me and Hinata were talking about! When he turns eighteen, there's no telling what he'll try to pull!_

"_Well, if you want my advice, then stop this game before you do something stupid!"_

But Sakura didn't hear her inner's warning. She was too busy watching Sasuke take his glass and in one swift movement, drank the red liquid and refilled his glass. Just about anything he did now mesmerized Sakura. It was starting to scare her. And yet, she loved it.

"Alright, my turn." he said. "Honestly, is this the first time you've had alcohol?"

"No way!" Sakura exclaimed. "Please, I'm Tsunade's apprentice! Did you really expect I wouldn't have alcohol by now?"

"Good point." he laughed. Immediately Sakura grabbed her glass and gulped down the wine. "I take it you like wine?"

"Oh, yes." Sakura smirked. "Very much."

_This oughta be interesting… _Sasuke thought.

"_Oh yeah! Just wait till she gets drunk! She'll be all over us!" _Inner Sasuke cheered.

_When are you NOT a pervert?! _

"_When we're not around Sakura-chan." _

_Sick…_

**-.-;**

About an hour later Sasuke and Sakura were both side-by-side on the floor by the coffee table, a tinge of pink appearing on both of their faces from the wine.

"So what was your most embarrassing moment?" Sakura asked, her voice a little slurred.

"Ehehehe…I don't think I really have to tell you. You were there after all." Sasuke chuckled.

"You mean when…?"

"Yeah…when Naruto accidentally kissed me." he laughed as he took another swig of wine.

"Your first kiss." Sakura smirked.

"Oh be quiet. So what was your most embarrassing moment?"

"Uh…I don't think you need to know that." Sakura said hesitantly.

"C'mon…I won't tell." Sasuke assured her.

"Well," she said as her face turned even more red. "One time at school, me and Ino were freaking over this big test in medic class, so she gave me this gum to help me relax. It worked a little too well for her 'cause she almost ran into the door, but anyway, we walk in class, I'm feeling dizzy and nauseous, we go to our seats which are in the very front of the class and all of the sudden…" she stopped, remembering what had happened next.

_She looked up to the front of the room where Anko was at to see her standing next to a table with a CPR dummy laying on it. Sakura stared at the lifeless dummy for a second and suddenly and instant flash came before her green eyes and the dummy was no longer there, but her mother lied on the table instead, staring at Sakura with cold, lifeless eyes._

"…I screamed…"

"Why?"

Sakura hesitated, remembering her mother's cold, lifeless eyes. "…I thought I saw my dead mother…that's why."

"Oh…I'm sorr--"

"But that's not the embarrassing thing." Sakura said, cutting him off. "Right after that everyone started laughing and I was wondering if it was because I screamed, but then Ino yelled, 'Oh my God, Sakura!' and pointed at my feet…" she hesitated once more as she felt even more heat rise to her cheeks. "And I…had an accident…A 'monthly' accident, if you catch my drift." she finished as she swallowed her tenth glass of wine. She turned to Sasuke to see his reaction. It was painfully obvious she'd put him in an awkward position.

"Uh…well…that is…embarrassing.." he said awkwardly.

"Yeah…" suddenly she started snickering.

"Huh?? Are you laughing?" Sasuke asked as he raised an eyebrow. He hadn't heard her laugh in a long time. "What are you laughing at?"

"The fact that your first kiss was with Naruto…of all guys!" Sakura slurred as she gave him an arrogant smirk.

"Hn. At least I've had a first kiss." he said bitterly. But soon he came to regret it when he saw the sadness in her green eyes.

"Aww…Sasuke-kun," she pouted as she stuck out her bottom lip. "That's sooooo…mean." she slurred.

"Well, hey the next time you…Did you just call me 'Sasuke-kun'?!" he said in utter shock.

"Well, yeah! I used to call you that a-a-a-a-all the time," she said as she flopped over onto his shoulder. "Sasuke-kun…" she whispered seductively in his ear. Sasuke nearly had a nosebleed.

"Um, Sakura I think you've had enough wine…"

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed. "I'm perfectly…s-s-s-sober.."

"You're slurring."

"Am not." she giggled. "Besides, you've had as much as I had…you're fine."

"But I'm older, and I'm a guy. I'm able to handle a little more alcohol better than you." Sasuke explained.

"Well, anything you can do I can do better!" the pink-haired girl sang.

"Sakura, in this case, no you can't."

"Yes I can!"

"And would you stop singing? Listen, it's late. Why don't you go to bed?" Sasuke said as he pulled Sakura off his shoulder. Sakura suddenly had that same mischievous gleam in her green eyes as she had earlier.

"Sasuke-kun!" she squealed. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?! You may be older, but I'm still a minor!"

"WHAT?! NO! That's not what I meant!" he protested as he felt the heat rise to his cheeks. Suddenly without warning, Sakura was sitting in his lap and bringing her face dangerously close to his, with one hand on the back of his head, gently playing with his raven-black hair, and the other caressing his face.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered. "What's it like to be kissed?" Sasuke's eyes widened as his heart pounded against his chest. He couldn't believe what was happening.

_Get a grip! She's drunk! You can't take advantage of her when she's like this!_

"_Oh, yes you can!" _

_Shut up! _

"Sasuke-kun…"

"Uh, Sakura…you're drunk. You need to--"

"Don't you love me Sasuke-kun?" she asked as tears started to well up in her eyes. It pained Sasuke so much to see her so hurt. She didn't deserve it. Any of it. Suddenly, to Sasuke's surprise, Sakura buried her face into the crook of his shoulder and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

"Please Sasuke-kun," she sobbed. "Please don't leave me! Don't leave me again!"

"Sakura…" he whispered.

"Sasuke-kun…" she sniffed. "Please…I love you! I love you so much I can't even stand it!" Sasuke was completely taken back. And yet, he had never felt such happiness in his life. He wrapped one arm around her waist and rested the other hand on her head as he started to stroke her pink hair to comfort her.

"Sakura…" he said. "I promise…I will _never _leave you again." Sakura pulled back to look at him lovingly in the eye. In the dim light, he could see that her face was streaked with tears.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun," she whispered. "Thank you…" She leaned in closer. "Ne, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hm?"

"Do you…love me?"

"…Sakura, I…"

He knew what he was feeling, he kept running the words through his mind like a broken record. And yet, he couldn't manage to say them. He was too mesmerized by her gorgeous emerald eyes. She kept bringing her face closer and closer until…the gap between their lips was closed. Her lips were like something Sasuke had never felt before. They were so soft…and tasted like strawberries. But what he loved the most was the innocence. These lips had been untouched until now. And they were his. Sakura slowly pulled back and looked at Sasuke with grateful eyes.

"So…that's what it feels like…" she whispered. "To kiss somebody you love…it's amazing…" And right then, Sakura's eyes slowly closed as she slumped over on his chest in a deep sleep. Sasuke placed his hand on her hair, bent down and kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah…it really is."

**TBC…**

Yeah…sorry that this chapter was really short. I was gonna update the next chapter the same time I updated this one, but I got writer's block. Yes again. Lol that's why I need some ideas so please when you guys update give me some ideas for the next chappy! Plz and thank you! XD so yeah, this was one of my favorite chapters to write! Lol you can see why I'm sure…XD anyhoo, hope you enjoyed! Plz review!


	19. Hangovers

Hello! I just wanna say thank you to all my wonderful reviewers who always give me such nice reviews! They make me feel special…and warm and fuzzy inside. n.n so as a thank you gift to you, here is chappy 19! … and a cookie! XD

But first, special thanks to one of my fav reviewers!

**Immortalsasuke: **first of all, OH…MY…GOD…that was the longest review I had EVER gotten! And I love you for it! XD your idea for dis chappy was so brilliant! In fact, I had actually started the chapter already before I got your review, but because I liked your idea better I edited it in your honor! XD thank you! X3

Disclaimer: must I repeat myself?

**Chapter 19: Hangovers **

Sakura awoke unpleasantly with a throbbing headache. She looked around to see that she was in her own bed and that Chihiro laid sound asleep beside her, the headphones still on her head with the music still blaring into her ears. Sakura struggled to sit up, but a sudden wave of nausea prevented her from doing so. Her head wouldn't cease the continuous pulsing jolts of pain, which resulted in a painful groan escaping her lips.

_Oh man, _she thought. _What did I do last night?_

"_You don't remember?" _Inner Sakura asked. _"You got drunk with Sasuke last night." _she said disapprovingly.

_What?! _Sakura's eyes widened. _I did?! Oh my God, what did I do? Please tell me I didn't do anything bad!_

"_Relax. You didn't…Well, the only thing you really did was…" _

_What? What?!_

Inner Sakura smiled coyly. _"Kissed Sasuke on the lips!" _

Sakura's face flushed completely. _I did…what?? I-I kissed him? _

"_Yep!"_

_Pfft. Yeah right. _Sakura scoffed.

"_What?! You don't believe me?!" _

_Why should I? You'd tell me anything in order to get us closer to Sasuke. No way. It'd never happen. _

"_But, but--"_

_Ah, ah! No buts! Now, I'm gonna go downstairs, eat breakfast with Sasuke and he'll be perfectly fine. Because if I did kiss him, he'd be all awkward and stuff. Sasuke's not like that in the least. _she explained calmly.

Inner Sakura sighed. _"Why won't you listen?" _

**:- **

Sasuke sat in silence at the kitchen table as he took a sip of coffee, trying to relieve himself of the headache he had from the wine he drank the night before. He couldn't stop thinking about that night. Was Sakura serious? Did she still love him? Or was it just the wine talking? It seemed so sincere though. She even cried her heart out for him.

"_I'm telling ya man, it's the real deal!" _Inner Sasuke said. _"Quit doubting yourself!" _

_I know, but…I'm just so confused._

"_Well, don't look now lover-boy, but here comes our green-eyed angel!" _Inner Sasuke pointed out happily as Sakura walked in. _"Try not to make yourself a __**total **__idiot." _

_Shut up…_

"Good morning." she said nonchalantly.

"Yeah…Morning." Sasuke replied awkwardly. "Did you…sleep well?"

"Um, yeah. Yeah…I slept good…except for the throbbing migraine I had to wake up to." she said hesitantly, noticing the awkwardness in Sasuke's voice.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said. "It must've been the…wine.." He suddenly blushed furiously, remembering once more about last night. It didn't go unnoticed.

There was a long, awkward silence. Sakura was starting to become confused. What if her inner was right? What if she did kiss him?! Should she ask him? She started to fiddle with a strand of her pink hair, thinking of how to break the silence. But she couldn't take it anymore.

"Um, Sasuke," she said suddenly, catching Sasuke's immediate attention. "Is there something on your mind…? Something that we should…talk about?" she asked awkwardly.

"Well, uh…" he hesitated.

"_Okay, she obviously doesn't remember. No real shocker there; she was wasted!" _Inner Sasuke chuckled. _"Anyway, tell her! Tell her what happened! She deserves to know!"_

"…No. Not really." Sasuke told her flatly, despite his inner's orders.

"Oh. Okay." she said, relieved.

"Well, anyway…" he said hesitantly, trying to change the subject. "Do you want breakfast?"

"Oh, sure. That's sounds…" She took a step forward but suddenly stopped and started to fall. Sasuke darted from his seat and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Sakura!" he exclaimed, his voice urgent. "Are you alright?"

"Ugh…" she mumbled. "Yeah…I'm just a little dizzy…"

"Do you need to lie down?"

"No, no. I just got up from bed…" she protested. "I just need to eat something."

"Okay, I'll go fix you breakfast." he said as he sat her down in a chair.

"It's probably just the wine." she said as she watched him prepare scrambled eggs. "God, I hate hangovers…"

"Hey, weren't you the one who said 'I know my limits'?" Sasuke smirked.

"Oh, be quiet." she mumbled. She propped her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. When she heard Sasuke set something on the table she blinked and lifted her head to see that it was a mug filled with hot coffee.

"Sober up." he said playfully with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah…" Sakura scoffed.

**XP**

Sakura started to feel a little better after she ate and finished off her coffee. She had offered to wash her own plate but Sasuke insisted he'd do it. Sakura liked this side of Sasuke. He wasn't the arrogant, self-centered jerk that she knew when they were twelve. He had found peace and had obviously matured in more ways than one. He had not the face of cute boy anymore, but the handsome and breathtaking face of a man, and he had grown not only taller but more muscular. Frankly, the only thing that hadn't changed in the least was his chicken-butt shaped hair. Sakura was glad; she really liked his hair. She caught herself staring at him, thankfully before Sasuke could notice, and turned her head back so her gaze fell to her slender hands which rested in her lap. But she couldn't help but feel like a burden, so she decided to speak up.

"Hey, do you need some help with the dishes?" she asked.

"No, I got it." Sasuke answered from over his shoulder. "But thanks."

"C'mon, lemme help," she pleaded. "I feel so weird not doing anything."

Sasuke sighed. "Okay, if it makes you feel more comfortable." he said as he let her come up beside him and handed her a knife. "Careful; it's sharp." he warned.

"Sasuke," she said in annoyance as she raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a child. I can see for myself that it's sharp."

"Okay, just saying." But as Sakura was wiping the knife down with a cloth, she accidentally grazed her index finger roughly against the sharp edge of the blade.

"Ow!" she yelped.

"See? What did I tell you?" Sasuke said as he set down the plate and reached for her hand. "Let me see it."

"No, it's okay." she said as she pulled her hand away. "I'll heal it myself." She put her right hand over her cut and touched it with her first two fingers which had a light green glow. But as quickly as the glow came, it faded.

"Huh??" she said, confused. "What just happened?"

"It's because of that hangover." Sasuke said, getting Sakura's attention. "Your medical skills aren't as effective with that alcohol in your system."

"Oh…" Sakura said as she looked down in embarrassment.

"Here, let me see it." He once again took her hand and examined the cut as a thick, dark red drop of blood oozed out from it. "Come with me." He led her to the bathroom and opened the cabinet above the sink to pull out a box of band aids and a cotton ball. Still holding her hand, he turned on the water and pulled her hand under it. Sakura inhaled sharply as she felt the sting in her finger rise and then fade to relief. Sasuke turned the water off, dabbed her finger with the white cotton ball which was now spotted with small red blotches and wrapped a band aid around the wounded finger. The whole time, Sakura wanted to protest, to tell him that she could do it herself. It was embarrassing to have him put the band aid on her himself as if she were a mere child, but she didn't say anything. She loved the feel of his gentle touch too much.

"_Now kiss her boo-boo!" _Inner Sasuke yelled teasingly. But Sasuke had gotten used to tuning him out.

"Thanks…" Sakura said as her face flushed.

"No problem," Sasuke replied. "Just be a little more careful next time."

"Tch. You sound like my mother." she scoffed.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you're clumsy with kitchen ware."

"Oh, really?"

"Uh, yeah." he laughed.

"I'm not so clumsy with sharp kitchen ware when I'm angry, if you catch my drift." she warned.

"Is that a threat?" Sasuke asked playfully as he edged closer to her.

"Absolutely." she replied deviously as she jocosely looked up at the Uchiha looming over her. But she had noticed that he had come a little too close for comfort so she gave him a small awkward push.

"Oh, sorry. Too close?" he said.

"Um, just a little…" she stopped mid-sentence when she realized that her hands were still on his chest. She paused for a moment as her hands started to take control; her fingers started to spread out to get a more good feel of him. But she immediately came back to reality and snatched her hands away and let them fall to her sides.

"Uhnn…s-sorry…" she mumbled shyly as she blushed furiously.

Sasuke's face turned red also. "…It's okay…" he whispered as he leaned in closer. Sakura's green eyes widened when she noticed that their faces were inches apart… But she let out a lull sigh of relief when the doorbell rang. Sasuke hesitantly turned from her, obviously disappointed, and walked out of the bathroom and towards the front door. He walked in the living room to see that Chihiro had already answered the door.

_When did she get up?? _he thought.

"_She walks like Dracula…" _Inner Sasuke said darkly. _"Her footsteps are as silent as death…"_

_I think that wine made it's way to your head. _

But he narrowed his ebony eyes in annoyance when he realized that Naruto was the one at the door.

"Hey Sasuke-teme!" he shouted.

**X3**

Sakura was left by herself, confused, in the bathroom. She looked down at her hands and stared in wonder. What had come over her? It was as if her hands took complete control. But she knew better than that; she never acts like this. But his chest…was so _tight…_Her eyes widened at the dirty thoughts that suddenly came to mind and shook her head violently, as if to shake the very idea out of her head.

"Man…What's wrong with me?" she asked no one in particular. "All he did was put a band aid on my finger…even though he clearly didn't have to."

"_Omigod!" _Inner Sakura squealed.

_What??_

"_He cares! That proves it!" _she beamed.

_Proves what?_

"_That you two kissed! See, since he cares for you then there'd be nothing to stop him from doing so!" _she declared.

_Please. _Sakura scoffed at her inner. _If that's true, then why didn't he take full advantage?_

"_Because since he cares for you, he also respects you and your boundaries."_

_You're full of crap._

"_Yeah? Well, you're so full of crap it's up to your ears! That's why you're not listening to me!!" _

**DX**

Naruto waited until Chihiro was out of sight and out of hearing range before he started to explain to Sasuke why he was really there. He shifted rigidly in his seat and stared at Sasuke across the table intensely.

"So…" Sasuke said casually. "What's new?"

"Sasuke, have you read the book yet?" Naruto asked with a serious expression. Sasuke stared at his friend for a moment before answering.

_Flashback…_

_Sasuke picked up the passed out Sakura bridal style and carried her up the stairs to her bedroom, where he laid her down on the bed beside her sister, who was still sleeping soundly despite the loud music blaring in her ears. He walked very clumsily down the hall and nearly fell over the railing but luckily he found his balance. _

"_God," he mumbled as he made his way to the living room. "When was the last time I was this drunk?" _

_Suddenly something caught his eye. He turned to the coffee table to see the black diary sitting there, beckoning him. That's when Sasuke realized that now was the perfect time to read it; Sakura and Chihiro weren't around at the moment. This time there would be no interruptions. He reached for the book when suddenly, because of his drunken state, he passed out on the couch._

_End Flashback…_

"If I did I don't remember…I kinda passed out." Sasuke said nonchalantly. "Uh, you okay?" he asked as Naruto scowled at him, growling deep in his throat, resembling a pissed off fox.

"You baka!" Naruto yelled in a whisper. "I told you to read the damn thing!"

"What's the big deal about this thing anyway?!" Sasuke retorted hotly, "Don't blame me for passing out, blame the wine!"

"Wine?" Naruto echoed. "What wine? What did you two do when you got home?"

Sasuke's face flushed. "Uhhhh…." Naruto's eyes sparkled with interest as his face broke out into a mischievous grin.

"You didn't…"

Sasuke's eyes widened.

"NO YOU SICK PERVERT!! I BOUGHT HER WINE, SHE PASSED OUT, I PUT HER TO BED, AND I PASSED OUT ON THE COUCH BEFORE I COULD READ YOUR STUPID BOOK! THE ONLY THING WE REALLY DID AT ALL WAS KISS!!" he yelled. But he immediately clamped his hands over his mouth when he realized what he had said.

_Oh…_

"_My…"_

_God._

"_What have you done…?"_

Naruto stared at him with a blank expression for no more than a second before he leapt from his seat and started dancing around Sasuke, squealing like a deranged schoolgirl.

"OMIGAWD! OMIGAWD! OMIGAWD! OMIGAWD! OMIGAWD! OMIGAWD!" he squealed as he continued to dance. "You've been holding out on me! You need to tell me all the dirty little details! Omigawd, it finally happened! OMIGAWD! OMIGAWD!" Frustrated, Sasuke buried his face in his hands.

"_You fool! Look what you did now!" _Inner Sasuke yelled at his outer. _"Now he's gonna blab it to the world! You idiot!" _

"OMIGAWD!"

"_What's Sakura gonna think?!" _

"OMIGAWD!"

"_She'll hate us forever!!"_

"OMIGAWD!"

"SHUT UP!!"

…

O.o

Naruto and Inner Sasuke shrunk down in utter silence. Sasuke looked like he was on the verge of entering the loony bin.

"Okay," Sasuke whispered, his voice shaking with anger. "First of all, it didn't happen the way you think! We were both wasted, and we had a…moment. And it wasn't a serious kiss either. Just a peck. That's all." he explained as calmly as possible.

Naruto chuckled. "Wow, that must've been one awkward morning."

"Uh, actually she doesn't remember." Sasuke said sheepishly. The kyuubi vessel's blue eyes widened in surprise.

"What?! You didn't tell her?!" he yelled.

"Shh! Be quiet! She might hear you!"

"But Sasuke--"

"Look, just because she doesn't remember doesn't mean I have to tell her." Sasuke interrupted. "Sure, I felt weird when she asked me about it, but--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! She _asked_ you?!" Naruto exclaimed. "She asked you about last night and you didn't tell her?!"

"Didn't we already go through this?"

"Not telling her is one thing, but _lying _to her?! I can't believe you!" Naruto yelled, flailing his arms.

"Why is this so surprising to you?" the young Uchiha asked as he raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest.

"Relationships are supposed to be based on love, trust and HONESTY!" Naruto said slowly.

"RELATIONSHIP?!" Sasuke echoed. "We're not in a relationship!"

"Doesn't matter; you kissed, and you have to tell her the truth."

"But it'll just make things more awkward than they already are!"

Naruto scowled at him in frustration. Why was it that Uchihas, especially Sasuke, were so stubborn? He wondered what he could do or say to convince him otherwise, or at least get him to listen to reason. Suddenly, as if on cue, Naruto had an idea. And Sasuke realized this when his foxy friend had the same mischievous look on his face when he once schemed to rip off Kakashi's mask or the time in the hot springs when he tried to take a peek at Sakura and Hinata. Both times failed miserably but nonetheless the look still startled Sasuke.

"Okay, teme." Naruto said. "You're right. It _would _be awkward for you to tell her that you two kissed last night." He smiled sincerely at his raven-haired friend.

"Huh? You're serious?" Sasuke asked. "W-Wow…Thanks Naruto." But suddenly his sincere smile turned evil.

"But just imagine how awkward it'll be when _I _tell her!!"

TBC…

Dun dun duunnn! Wut'll happen next?! Wut will Sasuke do? Will he let Naruto tell Sakura the truth? Or will he tell her himself? How will Sakura react? Or will her inner convince her first? To find out, u must review! XD moohoohahahahahaha!! Cough hack. Lol bye byez for now!


	20. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE! PLEASE READ!

VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE; PLEASE READ. … I SAID READ IT POR FAVOR!

Okay, as many of you already know, I stopped writing "Fervant" without warning a couple of years ago. That is because, as I have explained before, a lot of things came up (including my crappy computer being retarded) that delayed me from writing any further. And as a fellow reader of fanfiction, I understand the frustration of really getting into a story and it just randomly stops being written. So, to make it up to y'all, I am going to rewrite "Fervant" and repost it on fanfiction along with my new story "Miserere Mei" :D The only difference is that it is going to be spelled as "Fervent" with an "E" and not an "A" like I stupidly thought it was spelled XP LOL

Another thing, my laptop is really screwing up right now so the soonest I can update anything would be in a week or so, so don't give up on meh! XD I will definitely update meh stories soon so keep watching for them! ;D

HEART, BigHair AKA Rachel ;)

PS: be sure to also check out "Miserere Mei" my new Teen Titans fanfic :D it only has four chappies right now but like I said, its because my laptop is screwing up…GRR.

Ya know, I think after nearly three years, its about time I got a new laptop. One that doesn't SCREW WITH MY LIFE! LOL

"Have you licked your elbow today? HA! You can't! It's impossible! Moohoohahahahahaa."


	21. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE PART 2! PLZ READ

MAJOR IMPORTANT SUPER DUPER OOBER IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE PART TWO!

UPDATE ON "FERVENT"

Okay! So yeah, I've FINALLY cranked out the first revised chappie on Fervent, WHICH by the way, I have decided to rename the story…(drum roll) … "When the Sky Smiles" eh? Eh? Whatchu tink?

don't worry, there's not that many changes to the story other than minor plot details and the title XD

So yeah, there's really not much more to say other than "What the fudge are yall still doing on this useless page it does nothing but take up space like a fat whore anyway" and "Go read the story already!" XD

don't forget, the new title is "When the Sky Smiles"

And remember kids, when you take your goldfish out for a walk, leave it in the bowl. LOL … enjoy the story =)


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